


Stardrop

by thegreatandpowerfultoaster



Series: Stardrop 'Verse [1]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Background Buddy/Vespa, Background Rita/Alessandra, Canonical Character Death, Chickens, Dancing, Domestic Fluff, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gardens & Gardening, I wanted a cute stardew au and then juno had to angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Misunderstandings, Multi, Stardew Valley AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-06-02 08:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19437985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatandpowerfultoaster/pseuds/thegreatandpowerfultoaster
Summary: "It's gonna be beautiful," Rita had said, that first evening when they were both waist high in weeds and looking at the most decrepit house Juno had ever laid eyes on. Months later he's still not really sure about that.(AKA The Stardew Valley AU you didn't ask for, but you got anyways)





	1. It's A Big World Outside

Two figures stand in the middle of a field of weeds, in front of an old farmhouse, two stories high. The sun sets behind it, and it'd be a pretty picture if the house didn't look like something out of a horror movie.

"Fuck," says the taller of the two. "I thought you said at least the house was in good condition." 

The second figure bounces a little nervously in the weeds up to her waist. "Ah, well...I thought it was, Mister Steel. Maybe it just needs a coat of paint? We haven't seen the inside, yet, so maybe it isn't as bad as it looks?" 

The first figure, one Juno Steel, was pretty sure that it was going to be exactly as bad as it looks, but he shuffles through the weeds anyways, up the stairs onto the porch, and works the door open. 

It is _definitely_ as bad outside as it is inside. 

The wallpaper is beyond peeling, parts of the roof are sagging from water damage, and the place is so dusty the dust needs dusting.

Juno throws his face into his hands and groans. "Even dead, O'Flaherty has made my continued existence miserable." 

Rita has trekked up to the house sometime during his inspections or wallowing and pats his shoulder. "It ain't that bad, Mister Steel. Just gonna be some work, that's all. And then it's gonna be beautiful." 

He's currently very much doubting that, standing in the entryway of the ruined farmhouse and trying to figure why the hell Ramses O'Flaherty owned land all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, anyways. 

At least the lights still turn on, even if the roof leaks and the floorboards squeak every other step. 

No, no that isn't any good. That's dangerously close to a Rita line of thinking. 

What was he thinking, going all the way out here, no apartment, no office to go back to. Just this, now. Just this shitty farmhouse and the shitty land around it, rocky and covered in tall spiky weeds and broken glass.

And not only that, but dragging Rita out here, too? Fuck. Oh, the headlines. _Juno Steel, Noted Fuckup, Strikes Again, more at eleven. Lady Moves to Farm, Knows Nothing About Farming, Mercifully Dies. Thank God._

No. 

Nope, he wasn't supposed to be thinking like that. Not anymore. It was harder than he used to give it credit for being, though. Rita zooms past and shrieks. "I call the bedroom by the kitchen!"

Okay, that left him the one upstairs, whatever. Juno didn't care either way, really. The whole place was musty and falling apart, what difference would upstairs versus downstairs be!

He ascends the creaky stairs one by one, both bags in hand. He doesn't have much, didn't even _before_ the rent in his apartment was two months overdue and O'Flaherty had to go and die from lung cancer. It's enough to keep him going until he can figure out what the hell he's going to do here, at least.

He shakes the dust out of the blankets and grabs a few more moth-eaten ones from the closet and resolves to not even think about it until tomorrow. 


	2. Cloud Country

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't gonna post this chapter so soon, but I have the one after it done, so I figured y'all can have it now.

"Hey!" 

What? Why is Rita in his house yelling? That's a new one. And what time is it? Too early for-

Oh. Yeah.

Juno opens his eyes to see sunlight streaming through the big window opposite his bed, and he even manages to remember where he is almost right off. New house, new county, new fucking state. Great.

Rita says _"Hey,"_ again, much louder this time. That woman can project more than she should be able to with her height being what it is.

"Whaaaaat?" he yells back.

"I want breakfast, Mister Steel! We haven't got anythin' left!"

By 'anything left' she means the Jerky and trail mix and Cheetos that she'd packed for the car ride yesterday. If she thought she was going to eat that for breakfast...

Well, Juno wouldn't be surprised by that, exactly, but still.

"Give me three minutes!"

"I'm countin' then, boss!"

He rolls out of bed, doesn't even bother to pull on a different shirt than yesterday. It still feels too early, sunlight and all. 

But, he's hungry too, actually and things aren't yet at the point of feeling as bad about his situation as he did yesterday.

The day is still young, though. He'll get there. The stairs creak again on his way down, but he manages to not fall. That's something. "You read about that town, right? Uhh, what was it called again?"

Rita is trying to use her hands to dust the counter. _Broom_ , he starts a mental list. Things for a house. _Clorox wipes, soap, curtains_. They can do without that until later, but it's a list he's going to have to make, so why not do it now?

"Pelican Town," she says, chipper as ever. "Isn't that just adorable, Mister Steel?"

Absolutely not, it isn't. He just grunts in reply. "Hey, you seen my coat?"

Her mouth purses, like she's trying not to smile and failing really bad at it. "You're wearing it, boss."

Oh. He is. Must've forgotten to take it off. "Not boss," Juno corrects. "And there a grocery store in this Pelican Town or whatever? "

"Yup! Just one. But if we've gotta go to the farther away town, it's okay. The bus is running by nine. "

"Let's go, then, to the one here, just to see. Short walk, right? What, two miles?"

"One point six -four. From what I read."

Always reading, that Rita. Sometimes Juno wonders what he did to deserve Rita for a friend. Nothing he can think of that he did pays off that sort of debt. "Okay, enough math, get out the door!"

The hardest part of their walk is from the porch to the actual dirt pathway that's supposed to pretty much lead into town. Digging though all those weeds, Juno has an epiphany of sorts.

Small towns? Awful.

Everyone will know each other. Everyone will know _him_. Everyone will _want_ to know him, despite that not being what Juno Steel wants at all.

Fuck, again.

Maybe best case scenario he can drive them off, or Rita can keep the town gossips busy, either with her own brand of scandal or just ranting about the shows she likes.

Worst case scenario, he doesn't want to think about in depth, but it happens anyways. 

Someone wants to know about that New Juno Steel, digs a little, finds his dead brother and the Mom who was shot and Ramses O'Flaherty, does a little more digging and sees the place he grew up or the names of his parental figures and puts two and two together.

Or...tried to put two and two together and gets six. That happens, sometimes. Like he doesn't blame himself enough for all that shit.

Or like the truth is all that different from anything they might come up with. It's not.

Pelican Town (he's taken to just calling it Pelican in his head) comes into view behind a while lot of trees. It's...quaint. Juno can't really come up with a better word for it, other than quiant. Small, maybe. Underdone. Kitchy.

The store looks a lot like the house. It was probably built around the same time. In fact, most of these buildings look that way. Not to say that there aren't a few newer ones, but not a whole bunch.

Rita leads them both into the grocery, which (thank god) is empty, except for a lean man sitting at the counter, hunched over a book. The door chimes as it closes behind Juno, and the man looks up.

Doesn't look like anyone he expected to live in this sort of place. The man has oversized round glasses, and beneath the glasses are eyes too red to be natural and too brown to be outright creepy. He's got a crystal looking earpiece on one ear, and the other is entirely bare.

His hair sort of falls into his eyes when he looks up at them. It's black, mostly with some lighter grey on the sides. Definitely dyed. Everything about this man is artificial as can be. Even his smile. Maybe _especially_ his smile, with the abnormally sharp canines shining through.

Something runs down his spine when the man smiles. God, why does Juno suddenly feel so hot? _Not this, not today, not with this guy, of all people._

"Good morning! Can I help you two with anything?" Even his accent sounds fake. Juno starts to say no, when Rita butts in. 

"You have any dishes?" She says. "We just moved in and we have like...pans and stuff but no plates." 

"Yes, I think so, but they're in they're in the back, just a moment." He stands up and dissapers, and always the snoop, Juno walked close enough to see what book he was reading. Ugh, Proust. He's a snob, too. A hot snob. A hot fake snob.

He comes back with a boxed set of dishes in his arms, and Juno's left to go up to the counter to get them, since Rita has apparently disappeared into the aisles to grab who knows what. "Will these do?" The man asks, towering above Juno and sabotaging his own attempts at a smile with those fangs. 

"Yeah," he doesn't even look at the box. It will be fine. "How much?"

The man's smile grows. "Nothing, call it a house warming gift. Nobody new has moved in in a very long time, after all. I'd bet....let's see...you moved in to that farm down the road. "

"Wow, how'd you guess?" He sounds politely unimpressed at best and downright rude at worst.

"Only house in town," he laughs, clear, and melodious, and like he hasn't got a thing to prove. "I didn't catch your name."

And here comes that first little bit of nosing into his buisness. At least the dishes are coming for free. "It's Juno. Juno Steel. And that's Rita, back there. I didn't get yours, either." 

He reminds Juno of one of those big, toothy fish with the little light they use to lure in prey. He feels like the prey. The room heats up even more. He has to think about it for a second. Think about his name, that bastard. "You can call me Duke Rose." 

" _Can call you?_ Like, it isn't actually your name? What is that, some sort of fairy bullshit?"

"I'm experimenting!" Its an overdramatic kind of offended he's using. The kind to let Juno know he's joking.

Juno scowls. "But you're not gonna tell me your real name."

"Of course not, where's the fun in that, Juno?" Ugh, of course he just has to say Juno's name like _that_ , like he's working it out in his head how he'd want it to sound, like he's fucking moaning the second half. 

He huffs again, and something grabs his shoulder and Juno jumps. "Oops! sorry, Mister Steel. I forgot I was supposed to warn you before I touched you. I got stuff for omelets, and sandwiches for lunch."

For _him_ to make omelets, he wasn't stupid. That house was enough of a hazard to his health already without Rita trying to cook in it. Rose starts scanning things, commenting lightly on every single item to Rita, while Juno digs his wallet out of his pocket. 

Rita seems charmed by him, all the way through paying. Juno picks up the dishes, Rita gets the groceries, and Rose holds the door, which is probably for best with how wobbly Rita looks with all this bags. Juno glares at him, and Rose just grins. "Goodbye, Juno! I hope we'll see each other again soon."

Oh, they will. Not just for groceries, either. Juno's gonna find out this guy's real name if it kills him. 


	3. Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got this whole thing outlined now, so there might be a slight delay between this chapter and the next, but after that, should be relatively smooth sailing! Thanks to everybody who's reading and especially those who leave comments!

Juno Steel's search history looks something like this, by the time afternoon rolls around:

_Duke Rose_

_Duke Rose stardew_

Nothing. And duh, wasn't his name, but he didn't know where else to start.

_Duke rose pelican_

Still nope.

_start a farm_

There was tons of things about starting a farm with no land, or buying tractors, and combines, and balers and a thousand other things he couldn't possibly find the money for. Nothing like what he needed.

_start a farm with no money_

Again, he had the land, this wasn't about small areas, this was about a profit.

_best plant to grow in bulk for profit_

Juno was _NOT_ going to grow bamboo, not in this climate.

_chickens?_

Not a useful search, Rita laughed over his shoulder.

_How to nicely tell someone to leave you alone_

Nevermind, Rita doesn't get subtle anyways.

_PI demand in stardew valley_

Nothing on that specifically, but this valley does have a pretty below-average crime rate. So, that might not be the best career option to look into, either.

He's contemplating what poor idea to get looking into next when someone knocks on the door. And Rita opens it, because yeah, it isn't like they could have just left it closed. 

Could have ignored it.

"Oh, hey yeah! Come on in, of course."

"Ritaaaaa," he groans. Juno doesn't even have to take a look around the messy kitchen to know that it isn't a good idea to let anyone in here.

There's two people coming in from the entryway. One's wearing the (second) rattiest coat Juno had ever seen, and the others wearing what appears to be a loose interpretation of business casual. Maybe leaning farther towards the business side than the casual.

The woman in business casual takes off her sunglasses and shakes out her short dark hair, walks in and comes up to the kitchen table, holds her hand out.

Juno only sort of manages to remember that he's supposed to shake her hand after a minute or so.

Her head turns sideways and she blinks art him a few times before taking a step back. "I'm Sasha Wire. Mayor. That's Mick Mercury, uhh..."

"Amateur handyman!" Says the man in the dirty coat with the stupid smile. "We came to see if you needed any help with the house since, y'know-" he gestures down at himself.

Amateur handyman, huh. For some reason the word ' _Amateur_ ' combined with the goofy look on this guy's face didn't give Juno too much confidence. And mayor...

Well, at least this Sasha Wire looked pretty professional.

"Oh good!" Says Rita, sort of bouncing in the entryway. "This place is just fallin' apart, Mister Mercury and I know Mister Steel can do some basic plumbing stuff but I got no idea what to do about the roof, or the wallpaper, or this one spot in my room where I'm pretty sure a raccoon had its baby."

Mercury fidgets. "I think I could fix all that. Wallpaper is pretty easy, if you don't fall off the ladder. Would you maybe show me?"

Rita does that weird evil laugh she does when she thinks somethings going her way. "Sure, Mister Mercury, this way."

And then it's just him and Mayor Wire. He resolves not to call her that, if he can help it. She seems the sort to go by her title. "The house isn't under your name, Mister Steel. I suppose I was expecting to come over and meet a Ramses O'Flaherty."

"It's mine. The paperwork probably hadn't been changed yet, that stuff tends to take a while after someone dies."

That's all he bothers to say. It's good enough for Wire, who nods solemly. "Yes, I suppose that it does," she pauses, and looks up at the ceiling. "This house is a wreck. More than a wreck, even. A disaster."

He laughs dryly. "Yeah, you're telling me. I don't know how to fix half this stuff, and that's not even starting on the outside."

"Mick's better at it than you're probably thinking. Plus, he wants practice, so I doubt he'll let you pay him with anything more than a meal or two."

Good news, since they weren't living on much. Hey, that gave him a good idea. "You have work for a private eye here? It's what...well, sort of what I used to do. I was a police detective for a few years."

She shakes her head, and her hair swishes with it. "Don't have a police force, don't have much of a crime problem. The population isn't even above one hundred, so legally we're not even a town. Sometimes things go missing, but there's not much of a need."

He sighs. "Guess I figured, thanks anyways."

Sasha sits at the kitchen table, finally and looks him in the eye. "This lot is zoned for agriculture."

Like that's supposed to mean anything. He doesn't know how to farm, doesn't know how to make money off of it, which seems like the important bit. No, he'll find something else. "Thanks for mentioning, how do I get it rezoned?"

"That isn't exactly what I was going for, Steel but I'm sure it's easy enough."

"Yeah, sure." They fall into silence. Rita and Mercury are pretty loud talking in the other room. Juno suddenly gets a good idea. Not one that's going to fix the money situation, but at the moment it seems like just as important. "Hey, I've got a question, who runs the store in town?"

Wire raises an eyebrow at him. "Buddy Aurinko, why?"

Buddy Aurinko, okay.

"Just wondering, I didn't get a name."

Sasha laughs at that, although from the woman so perfectly put together, her genuine giggle seems out of place. "Buddy's very taken, if that's what you're asking. Married, in fact."

"Oh." He isn't disappointed, but that ' _Oh_ ' didn't do him any service in displaying the fact that he wasn't disappointed. Juno's quick to correct himself. "No, that's not why I asked. I'm just trying to learn everyone's names. That's all."

Sure. Sure he is, because he's not some stupid idiot who falls for a person after their first meeting.

"They all say that, and then they meet Vespa and say it again, louder like they have something to prove. Are you going to be that person, Mister Steel?"

Why does it bother him so much when she says it like that?nLike it's any of her buisness, anyways. "No, of course not. Do you have a reason to be here or were you just escorting Mercury?" He snaps. She doesn't seem intimidated, the way she blinks slowly at him.

"You'll forgive me of wanting to see if the Head writer at Northstar Entertainment was really moving into my town, Mister Steel. And then forgive me again for wanting to try to start off on the right foot with you, at least."

"Great, well, you had your time to gawk and pry, aren't you glad you came? I didn't move here to be harrassed, you know."

Wire stands abruptly and the chair scrapes across the uneven tile floor. "I'm really in no mood to argue, Mister Steel. I'm sorry that we couldn't at least remain pleasant." She turns toward the stairs and says louder, "MIck? Mick, I'm walking home, now. Don't be out too late."

"Okay!" He hears her amateur handyman lackey shout back and then Rita's own goodbye (traitor).

She disappears down the entryway and he hears the door shut behind her (after two tries, so at least he can take solace in the fact that her dramatic exit is ruined).

Juno shuts off his laptop and stomps back up the stairs with less force than he would have cared to use. Why is he so upset? He doesn't owe Wire any explanation. He doesn't owe _anyone_ any explanation, not even Rita.

And then...and then it's not like he actually cared about the dude in the store. Buddy. Or that he was married. God, with a smile like that, Juno should have guessed. Some detective he was.

He starts on making sandwiches.

Rita says he does this thing, when he's angry. She calls it angry cleaning, and he'd never noticed it before, but this seems like it qualifies, probably.

If you had been wondering, it's entirely possible to spread mayo on a piece of bread violently. Juno himself hadn't been aware, but there it was.

Rita and Mercury come down the hall when Rita stops. "Mister Steel? You okay? You're doin that thing again, the one you do when you're upset and don't want anyone to know."

"I'm fine," he says, roughly slapping the cheese down on the bread. Rita look at Mick and they both start laughing. "What's so funny, huh? "

Rita wheeze a few times. "Jus', jus' your face. Like you we're holdin' an argument with that cheese." Juno fumes, and she realizes her mistake and quickly backtracks. "I mean...I only mean that it only looked silly, boss. You don't gotta be mad about nothin'."

She's...right.

Juno takes a deep breath and turns to Mercury. "Okay. So what, can you fix some things?"

Mercury nods enthusiastically. "Oh yeah! I'm pretty good at wallpaper and roofing and walls, and-well, everything you need except for electrical stuff, and I know someone who could help with that. She's in town so I'm sure she could do it any time. Plus, she's like super nice so I don't think she'll charge very much."

"Oh," cuts in Rita. "Do you think Mister Mercury could stay for lunch? He's gonna tell me about the town, since nobody's moved here in like...forever."

"Yeah, sure. I'm going upstairs to put things away, don't wait up for me." Juno grabs his plate and quickly evacuates upstairs. He doesn't end up putting anything away at all, doesn't even end up eating the sandwich. Just lays back on the dusty hardwood and stares at the ceiling.


	4. Comes Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly just an interlude chapter but PROMISE Jet will be important later. The next ones gonna be the flower dance,,,,

Juno goes for a walk that evening, after he wakes up from his accidental nap on the floor.

He's not sure what prompts it, really. Digging through all the weeds isn't exactly relaxing, and he doesn't know this place, and so now he's fairly certain that he's lost, until he manages to cut through another thick bit of weeds and vegetation and ends up on what he supposes could be called a beach.

It's kind of a shitty beach, but it definitely qualifies. There's sand, even. Rita will be happy about that, say they've got beachfront property or something. 

Maybe she already knew, she's the one who researched it after all, he's the one who dragged them out here with no clue what he was getting into.

He should have just sold the place, paid the rent for a few months, given her a raise, and never had to think about it again.

No going back now.

Juno shuffles forward on the sand that seems insistent on letting him sink in every time he took a step. He follows the shore until the beach gets bigger and he sees someone standing about a yard back from the water. Someone big, in a jacket, holding a stick.

Nope, not a stick. A fishing rod. Could you even fish, that close to shore? The big guy in the jacket was sure trying. 

Now, he _would_ backtrack because statistics are beginning to show he's better off not interacting with anyone in this town, but Juno's also now about to get lost in the middle of the forest while it's about sunset. Even if the guy in the coat turns out to be a total nutcase he's still got to know his way back to town, right?

"Hey!" He yells down the beach. " Hey, excuse me! " the man in the jacket turns. "I'm sort of lost, is there any way you could point me back to Pelican Town?"

Yeah, okay. The look he gets, sort of squinty and confused and uncomfortable, is entirely deserved. They man cups one hand over his ear. Oh, he can't hear him.

He trudges closer through the sand. "I'm lost, do you think you could point me in the direction of pelican town?"

The guy looks over him once. "You're the one who just moved in. Juno Steel."

Okay, little creepy, but as he understands it news gets around quickly in small communities.

Juno doesn't even try to suppress his groan. He's done. Maybe throwing himself into the ocean would be less painful than this. "Yeah, I'm Juno Steel. Could you-"

"Point you back to town? Yes, I heard." He doesn't laugh but he does sound semi-amused. "Its nice to finally meet you, Juno. Town is back that way." He points further down the beach. "There's a bridge further up."

He doesn't want to start a conversation-thank God. That's a first for this entire place, honestly. Juno couldn't be any more relieved. "Thanks. Uhh, good luck." He looks down at the fishing pole, still not sure if that's something that could work.

The man in the coat just nods.

And thus, he continues picking up his feet and heading down the beach.

There's a cabin a ways down, sitting just in front of the tree line. It isn't very big, one of those one-person affairs that probably has storage space coming out its ears, but it's definitely a lot newer than any other building he'd seen.

All of the windows except the big front one have dainty lace curtains that he'd never let come into his own house. The uncovered front window had a figure in it, talk and lithe and instantly familiar already, damnit. 

Buddy, that's what Wire had said his name was. Buddy Aurinko. 

That same wave of...something rushed over him again, like the ones from the ocean a couple yards away. Disappointment? Jealousy, maybe? Juno doesn't have any right to feel jealous. 

He looks away from the front window of the cabin, shoves his hands into his pockets, and keeps walking. He definitely doesn't see the way the man turns, for a moment, looks to where Juno was standing before, and frowns for a moment, before turning back to whatever he was doing.

That's all just wishful thinking from someone who doesn't deserve it. 

The next few weeks leave him little time to brood at all, or think. Or sleep, actually. Mick brings over his electrician friend, and between the four of them things start to get done (three, actually since Juno puts Rita on moral support duty after she forgets to turn the power off and almost kills Alessandra).

Alessandra Strong is...Well, in a word? Juno thinks she's badass. He's not stupid enough to go for that, though, honestly with the way she's making eyes at Rita. 

Honestly? Good for her, even if that stings a little too.

The porch is the first thing they fix, and then the light out there, and then the stairway. Things go fast, all the sudden and maybe it's not all fixed, and he's not exactly _happy_ about the money he'd had to shell out for a hot water heater, but fuck if he's going to complain for a while after a warm bath. 

Things aren't looking up, maybe. After all, they're running out of money fast and for a few days Juno hasn't been able to escape from new 'neighbors' coming over for dinner (and Rita letting them in, no questions asked). But they're better. 

He's starting to not regret this, even if he isn't ready to admit it yet.


	5. Flower Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really neither here nor there but I have so much appreciation for podfic authors? I just listened to a lot of Dresden Files fic writing this and that's really what got me through this chapter tbh, and I didn't even procrastinate to read fic! Nice.

Today would be the perfect day, really. It would. The house is looking a lot better, and between Alessandra, Mick, and Rita, they've got House Things, even. Curtains and a singular rug, and sheets. 

It's not a home, but maybe because that's Juno won't let it be. He's done a few odd jobs here and there (finding people's lost shit), and Rita's back to building websites for people for money. 

Everything considered, things wouldn't be going so bad if not for today.

Because today, is what the locals (only the ones he's regularly talking to, anyways) call the Flower Dance. And he wouldn't be going unless Rita wasn't dragging him there. A week or two ago he'd done the same thing with their Easter thing event. They hadn't called it that, granted but that's what it was. Egg hunt and everything.

Rita's trying to stuff him into the only sundress he owns, because yeah, that'll hide the fact that he doesn't have a consistent sleep schedule, doesn't eat a few days a week, and hasn't shaved in two days. 

"Mister Steel!" She yells, and he winces because they're not even three feet apart. "You got to hold still so I can figure out your eyeshadow!" 

This is _entirely_ for her. 

He kind of wants to die instead of do this, actually, but the juries still out on whether it's his normal level of passive suicidal instinct or not. Buddy's probably going to be there, which is fan-fucking-tastic. 

Can't wait for that particular reminder. _Pining for a married man, you've really sunk even lower, Steel. Who knew you could._

Rita claps him on the shoulder roughly. "There! Looks nice!" 

Juno resists telling her that a little bit of eyeshadow isn't doing much to hide the bags around his eyes. He's almost certain that she wouldn't listen, anyways, the way she's already ushering him down the stairs and out the door.

There's a path worn to the _actual_ path now, now from people coming back and forth over the last few weeks. He's said a few times that he's going to start pulling up weeds to make get to around a little easier at least, but like how these things usually go, he hasn't gotten around to it yet. 

He follows at his own comfortable pace behind Rita who's twirling occasionally just to see her dress swirl around her knees. Ah, to be easily amused and sociable. Juno wonders what that's like, not because he wants to be, but just because Ben was like that.

_Oh, Ben._

He tries not to think of his brother most days, which goes exactly how you'd expect. No one who'd met Ben Steel could possibly forget him, and especially not his own twin.

At least most days he could push the other two members of their 'Family' from his mind. That wasn't a family - except for Ben. He tries to remember that, too. The only family he has now (the only family he needs) is Rita. 

Pelican is decorated like a May Day celebration that was the unfortunate location of a paintball gun fight. This, Juno thinks, is what the house would look like if he'd let Rita paint or choose the wallpaper. 

It is not a nice thought, overall.

As far as people, the place is already what might qualify as packed. He catches Mick next to Mayor Wire (where else?) And the Tall Man in the Coat is talking to Omar Khan (retired police), his wife, and their baby. He dwarfs both of them. 

There's Alessandra, arms folded and glaring at the dance floor. Next to her is just a miniature version of Wire, more interested in the punch than whatever Alessandra's brooding about. 

On the dance floor itself is something he'd rather not think about. It's hard to miss Buddy Aurinko, since he's so tall, to say nothing of the halo of light around his clearly-dyed hair, and his outfit, which consists of a fucking awful pair of floral leggings and blazer to match. 

Only one person could possibly pull that off, and Juno's found him.

The woman he's dancing with has to be his wife. She's not as tall, even in heels, but it isn't especially far off. Her red hair falls over one side of her face and her shoulder. She's stunning. 

Rita has dissapeared, so Juno saunters over to Alessandra, who gives him a wave. "Hey. Didn't think you were coming."

"Yeah, I wasn't going to, Rita thought I should get out of the house...she's probably right, but this isn't really my scene."

"Me neither, honestly but what can you do. Gonna head about it later if I don't go. Gonna hear about it if I do. Rita's here?"

He tries not to sigh. "Yeah, don't know where she headed off too, though."

Alessandra tries to make a noncommittal sounding noise, but Juno just notices things. Would've noticed it even if she hadn't been looking at Rita like she was the only thing in the room for the past month. If he was a good friend he might give her the shovel talk, but he's not, and he's got plenty of sympathy for her situation. 

He tries not to look over at the dance floor again. 

Especially when the song ends, and a moment later Buddy disappears out of the corner of his eye and there's suddenly a presence next to him, and Alessandra's stopped brooding at whatever she was before and turns. 

"Hello, Juno. When I said that I hoped I would see you soon, I was expecting it to be much sooner than this."

Juno does sort of a full body wince. Nice, exactly what he had been hoping to avoid. "Yeah, well," he's dripping with sarcasm like popsicles in his old apartment during summer. "You know how it is, busy exorcising those ghosts that come with new houses and getting lost in the middle of a forest whenever I walk outside." 

He laughs. Buddy actually laughs. "Of course. I didn't move here long before you did, so I still recall getting lost a few times. Juno, would you maybe like to dance with me?"

This is the nightmare scenario.

"I'm really not dancing sort of-"

"Nonsense," he chuckles. "You came to a dance. It's not as though anyone here is an expert-" he paused for a moment and smiles thoughtfully. "Current expert-"

He grunts. "Really. I don't dance, besides, wouldn't-"

"I insist, Juno. Please?"

He looks over at Alessandra for help. "Go dance with the hot guy, Steel."

That's apparently enough to knock all the sense out of him, because Juno gives Buddy one last glance, looking him in the eyes (they're a lavender-ish color, today) and nodding. "O-Okay. I'm not going to do well, though and you're going to regret asking."

Buddy's small, self satisfied smile melts into a full on predatory grin. "I'm not going to regret it."

He's ushered towards the roped off bit of grass and up onto the wooden platform that's supposed to be the dance floor. Juno lets himself be helped up and waits for Buddy to make the first move, which is apparently to hold one of Juno's hands in his, and move the other of his hands to Juno's waist comfortably. 

He finally gets words out when Buddy steers them to roughly the middle of the platform, and another song starts like this is a damn romantic comedy.

No, Juno decides then and there that if his life was a genre, it'd be a tragicomedy. The world is out to get him and god, does it sure soak up a lot of amusement from it.

"Is your wife okay with this?" 

He's pretty sure Buddy almost trips when Juno says that, but he manages to turn it into a graceful spin, and laighs, raising an eyebrow. "Pardon, my _what_?" 

"Your...your wife?"

Buddy laughs harder. "I'm not sure where you got that idea, because I assure you, Juno, I am not interested in any woman. I lean more towards the masculine side of things, actually," he takes a quick breath in and looks down at Juno, who's sundress is sort of swaying with the way Buddy's leading them around. "But don't let that deter _you_ , darling."

And he's back to not knowing what to say, and scowling, because that's his go to reaction when someone does something he just doesn't get. "Are you and Sasha Wire trying to play some sort of weird practical joke on me, because I swear-" 

"I'm afraid I'm just as confused as you, so maybe back up a bit? What on earth gave you the impression I had a wife? What does Ms. Wire have to do with anything?" 

They keep dancing, through all of this. Even as the song ends and another begins they keep roughly the same pace. Juno isn't as bad at it as he's tried to make himself seem. There has been plenty of times where Ben had needed a partner to practice with, so he was passable, if nothing else.

He starts to explain. "I wanted to know your name, so I asked Wire who ran the grocery store."

Buddy holds up his hand, still laughing. "Juno, if I may, I think I understand, now." He nods. "Sasha told you that Buddy Aurinko runs the store, and Buddy's married. Juno, Buddy is my aunt. I watch the store for her on Tuesdays when her and my other aunt, Vespa, go out."

Oh.

Oh, now he feels stupid. He should've asked more questions or some something, because now he doesn't feel like an idiot for pining for something he can't have, he just feels like an idiot. 

"So...So what is your name."

Mystery Man smiles again, all sharp teeth. "As much as I like you, Juno I can't just tell anybody my name. That'd be awful for business, after all. How about...Rex Glass."

"You didn't even try with that one."

Glass gasps dramatically. "Of course I did! I've been thinking of that one for longer than you've even been here." 

Juno rolls his eyes. "Sure. So...no one in town knows your real name?"

"No, of course not. Well, my aunts do, but they're rather good at keeping secrets."

He just scoffs. "I'm a detective." Former detective. "I figure it out."

Glass looks at him again, long and slow and uncomfortably. "Well, we'll see how that works out for you then. I'm going to want updates, of course." So he doesn't believe him. That's fine, Juno likes to prove people wrong. "I'm going to be out of town for the next couple of days, though. Maybe after I get back we'll have to go get a drink or two and you can tell me what you've figured out."

"Sure. I'd like that." 

Relief is really too weak a word to describe what Juno's feeling, getting off that dance floor. It's freeing, almost. 


	6. Distant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember to check the tags on this work! This chapter has a few of the darker themes cropping up that I'm otherwise not gonna go as heavily into until way later.

"What the hell is that? You know you can buy milk crates from the Joja-Mart website, right?"

It's almost a hundred degrees, and Juno has been at this for hours already, and if Alessandra says another word he might just throw his project at her. How did Rita manage to convince him that this was a good idea?

Better yet, how did he convince _himself_ he didn't want Mick's help with this, other than with the blueprint sitting a few feet away?

"It's not a milk crate, damnit. It's going to be a chicken coop." 

She doesn't look like she believes him. "So you're getting chickens, why?"

He was still asking himself that. There were a couple reasons, one being that he couldn't really see any career in this town panning out, exactly. And the commute elsewhere just wasn't doable on a regular basis. So, why not try farming, even if he had no prior experience and had fuck all ideas about what he was doing. 

The other reason is that Rita has the sense to ask him about it the evening after the flower dance, when Juno was in a weirdly good mood after taking to Glass about his case of mistaken identity and he probably would've agreed to anything. 

She said she'd done some reasearch, and that organic eggs were usually pretty expensive, and that even if they couldn't find anyone to buy then in town, they could always ship them to other places in the valley and even to the city, which was...well, the city they had lived in before was almost three hours away, but Rita didn't seem to think that was very far.

_(Juno wishes it was further away, but that's neither here nor there.)_

So yeah, he's out here building a chicken coop.

Oh, yeah. Alessandra had asked why. "Just a start on this whole farming thing since Wire seems pretty set on not letting us rezone." 

That isn't a lie, but Juno really probably could be made her, if he'd worked past her initial passive-aggressive tone. "Huh, wonder why she's so set in it."

"Dunno. Might have something to do with that being what the lot is originally zoned for. Hell, she's probably the type to not let me change where the windows are on the house."

She laughs at that. "Yeah, she's pretty particular, especially about the historical houses or whatever here, so I guess you're not wrong. Look, you need any help with that? Kind of a big thing to be building by yourself. Especially when it's this hot outside."

"I'm fine," he says. "Just trying to finish it before Rita gets so excited about getting chickens she gets them and decided they need to live in _my_ house or something."

"Okay. I'm gonna go grab a drink in town. Give yourself a break eventually. "

He says, "Sure," with no real intention of stopping until he can't see outside anymore and then do the exact same thing tomorrow and the day after, until he's got a coop.

It gets hotter and hotter, but he's got a frame sort of going on, now and almost a finished nest box, but god, if he isn't suffering for it. It comes on pretty suddenly, the feeling that his eyes can't stay open anymore combined with an awful headache. 

Juno goes to stand. He's probably just dehydrated. Fuck, he doesn't even know how long he's been sitting out here for, moving around his little coop frame. 

The thing is, he remembers pulling himself to his feet using the wooden box, but nothing after that, exactly. The next thing he remembers is a white room, and a wiry green-haired person standing over him. He's quick to sit up, but everything hurts so bad that it slows him down enough that he's gently (but firmly) pushed back into laying down.

"Nope," Green Hair says. "You might have got a concussion and you're probably still a little dehydrated, so don't even try to run. I was warned about you." 

Warned. Damnit, Rita.

"Unfortunately, didn't get the same kind of warning about you," he manages to croak out. He's obviously in the little clinic next to the grocery store in Pelican Town. No way even Rita would think it was a good idea to drive him half an hour away for what must be been minor heatstroke.

He's trying to not think about how it wouldn't really matter if she had driven him that far, since really all hospitals are the same when you get down to it. Been in enough of them to know.

Green Hair rolls her eyes. "Vespa? Pelican Town clinic? I don't get out that much, sure. I know about you. Knew before you even walked in here."

"Yeah. Getting the impression that news travels fast here." 

She doesn't even bother to roll her eyes this time, instead turning and grabbing one of those lights. "Hold still. I know what you mean. You get used to it. Or-" she grins. "You just don't leave your house ever, like me." 

"Leaning towards that second option. So, what's the prognosis, or whatever?" 

Vespa glances towards the door then back at Juno a few times, like she's debating saying something. "Your friend is uh...worried about you. Not just about the heat stroke or the fact you whacked your head on something real hard." 

He squeezes his eyes shut tightly. "No! No, whatever she told you, I'm not...I'm not like, trying to starve or dehydrate myself or something. I just...I didn't realize how long I'd been working, is all."

God, of course she would think that. It's been a year since Ben died, a little longer since...He's fine! Vespa shrugs. "I'm just passing the message along. and...you know, I had to ask about medical history stuff since, doctor. Medical practitioner, whatever. So, didn't mean to pry. If it'd help I can tell her I didn't see any signs of it being intentional."

It'd been a little less than a year since he'd gotten out of the hospital himself, after everything that had happened with Ben. 

It wasn't like walking into see him on the floor, and already not breathing and bled out, and Sarah there, and her hand on the gun...

He think he might pass out again, but at least he'll have some warning this time. That's just another thing-another failure he's trying to not think about at all. 

Juno remembers to breathe, but just barely. 

Vespa shines the light in his eyes for a moment and then takes it away. "I don't think you have a concussion. You should still probably rest for a day or two, because that doesn't mean your head's not gonna hurt like shit."

Arguing with Vespa seems like the least productive thing he could possibly use his time for, so instead of saying that he's not going to do that, he nods. 

"Okay, well, there's your friend waiting outside for you. Come back if your head hurts too much, take it easy for a few days. All that. And drink some damn water if you're going to be outside, for fuck's sake." 

He's slower trying to sit up this time. Yep, definitely hit his head, probably on that damn coop, if he was left to guess. 

Vespa lets him get up by himself and points him in the direction of the door. It feels like a long, long hike rather than a few steps out of a too-small exam room. Facing Rita when she thinks he tried to hurt himself (again) is not an easy thing to think about, much less actually do. 

God, he's an awful person, isn't he? Making her even have to worry about something like that ( _again_ ). 

What's he even going to say?

He opens the door slowly and steps out into the pristine waiting room area. Rita's talking to the same redhead that Juno had originally mistaken for Glass's wife. So...maybe _that_ was his aunt? One of them, anyways. 

She looks like she was crying not very long ago, which doesn't do anything to ease the pit of dread crumbling into a bigger pit of dread inside him. 

Both her and the redhead turn towards him shuffling out the door to the exam room, Vespa close behind. Rita throws her hands up and looks like she's about to cry again. "Mister Steel! You're awake!"

"Yep. Doc says I'm all good to go." He can practically feel Vespa scowling behind him. "So...pack up?"

"Sure! Sure. Uh, can I get this paperwork back to you later, Mrs. Aurinko? "

"Yeah," Vespa comes in front of him and flops into one of the waiting room chairs. "Just have it back by Monday." 

Somewhere in his already deeply mortified state, he makes the connection that these are Glass's aunts, and the tall redhead must be Buddy. Yeah, he'd definitely deserved being laughed at for that one. 

He starts his slow trek to the door, letting Rita trail behind until they're out of the clinic, and then even longer until they're by the bus stop in between the house and Pelican, and then she stops abruptly and wraps her arms so tight around him that Juno can't breath. 

"Oh, Mister Steel, I was so worried about you! I came outside and you were just lying there, not moving and a bad color, just like when..." She sniffles and out come the biggest tears Juno has ever seen. 

To tell the truth, he sort of feels like crying too, especially with that incident mentioned. He lets Rita bury her face into his shoulder, even though he's still feeling a little wobbly and then he lets her stay there for a minute, and looks out towards the bus stop, the best place to see the actual mountains in this part of the valley, and thinks for a moment.

_This isn't like last time._

This was supposed to be different, so he didn't have to think about what had happened to Ben or Sarah Steel anymore. And look where that got him. 

He takes a deep breath in, but it's still hard to talk. "Let's just go home, Rita. I'm still not feeling very good."

Juno starts to walk, but that's still holding on to his hand tightly, biting her lip and looking into his eyes. "You gotta promise that you're gonna take better care of yourself, Juno. I dunno what I'd do without you, okay? I just...I worry, and I worry, and worry s'more and I know you don't care but if not for you then for me, okay?"

It's quiet long enough for the sun to start setting.

"Okay," he says quietly, and then again, a little louder. "Okay. I will."


	7. Glimpse Of The Other World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly just background, but I hope you like it anyways!

The footsteps coming up the stairs aren't Rita's or Alessanda's.

"I recall," says a voice that he doesn't quite _get_ at first but quickly brings to mind the scent of seawater and the futility of fishing so close to shore, a memory from nearly an entire season prior. "The last time this house was occupied. Rather young man, by the name of Ramses O'Flaherty."

Juno groans. "I'm supposed to be resting, and you're doing fuck all for my blood pressure."

The tall man in the coat (still in a coat in the hottest part of the year) comes through the doorway, pulling himself up by the doorway at the top of the stairs. "I was told you'd be alright with me coming up here to speak to you."

"Ah," he says flatly. "Thanks, now I know who to blame. Make yourself at home, I guess." 

The tall man does make himself at home, sitting on the floor beside Juno's bed, which he's absolutely confined to anytime Rita's in the house.

A while ago he'd gotten up for a drink and she'd actually yelled at him. That had been...kind of frightning, actually. He was not used to her being legitimately, really angry.

"I don't believe I've told you my name."

"Nope. You still remember mine, I assume?"

He nods once, and turns to look through the big window at the other side of the room, towards the foot of Juno's bed. "Of course. My name is Jet, pleased to make your acquaintance. I assume you got the house directly from O'Flaherty?"

Right down to business, then. Normally that's the sort of attitude Juno doesn't mind, but when it comes to Ramses he figures he's best off without it. "Yeah, but if you came to talk to me about him, I wasn't around him much after I moved out of my mom's house."

Tried not to talk to him, at least.

Ramses wasn't the same brand of crazy that Sarah had been, but he'd be damned if anyone would ever call Ramses normal or sane. Especially towards the end, when he'd gotten back on the _"You could do so much good, and yet here you are,"_ bullshit that Juno hadn't heard since he was in middle school, maybe.

"I just thought that you might want to know why he had the house and land in the first place. I will admit that I know quite a bit about you and your family, Juno. Or at least from Ramses' side of things, although I don't feign to think the man was unbiased in any way, and there was always just something a bit off about him, especially when he spoke of you and your brother."

"That..." Juno sighs, and lies back in his bed a little. The ceiling is easier to look at. "That tracks, I guess. Yeah, I'd been wondering exactly when he had time to buy a farmhouse. I mean, they split a couple times. Him and my mom's weren't ever _together_ , but I dunno what else to call it."

They'd get into these yelling matches every so often that weren't like the normal ones. So long as they stayed well away from Ben, it didn't matter much to him what they decided to throw or what they decided to yell.

Ramses just up and Ieft, a couple times. Still sent in money for bills. None for groceries, though. He figured Sarah could at least handle that for herself...She couldn't.

That happened twice that Juno could remember, but him and Sarah had known each other long before Juno and Ben had been born, so who knows exactly what sort of awful falling outs they had when Ramses wasn't insisting on not letting Juno know they were fighting (ha, ha.) And Sarah for ben.

There's an irony in there somewhere he's sure, but fuck if he knew what it was.

He hadn't exactly has the time to think about it, but it made sense that Ramses had probably bought the house one of the times him and Sarah had been separated. The rest of the time, he mostly lived in their house, after all. Or maybe it was the other way around, they lived in his.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jet says. In Juno's mind he's really still the man in the coat, even in the summer heat. "The house hadn't been occupied in years before he's purchased it. It was in- _dare I say it_ -nearly as bad of shape then as it was when you moved into it. It was quite the project to restore the first time, and I don't think it was ever finished, though why that was the case I can only guess.

"I do know what he said to me, though. About how he'd intended to move you all here at some point, when the house was in better shape."

Oh, now that was funny. Ramses 'Family Man' O'Flaherty. What a joke.

"Yeah, M 'Sure he did," Juno picks at his sheet and hopes he sounds appropriately dry. "Is there a point to all this? Like, a real point. Not just making me dig up repressed childhood memories."

Jet looks at him seriously.

"I don't know what you have been through. Juno. It's not by business. I just wanted you to know that I don't believe that Ramses was really a bad man, deep inside. He did care about you, your brother, and your mother. It was more than clear, the at he spoke about you."

Angry. 

Juno's _angry_ , even if that doesn't feel like a big enough word. "You didn't know him, then. Thanks for coming over, I guess. But you didn't know O'Flaherty. He made my life hell for years," (And he didn't help Sarah any, in fact she got worse after he'd goaded her into quitting Northstar and shacking up with him in the 'Nice' part of town).

He just gracefully nods his head. "Of course. Thank you for letting me speak, Juno. I hope that you're well soon."

He only grunts in response as Jet shifts and slowly gets to his feet. He isn't even trying to be subtle when he walks over to the windowsill and puts something down on it. And then he turns, and Juno watches him disappear again down the stairs, as quickly as he'd come. Strangely enough, he doesn't even hear Rita say anything down there or the door shut.

Ah yes, another thing in the long list of things that Juno Doesn't Want To Talk About Or Acknowledge, But Here They Are so he's going to have to deal with them, right?

Wrong. Absolutely not. Between the heat stroke and this, now? He's done. Ramses is dead. Sarah is dead, (he would know) and Ben is dead and he's the only one left, _goddamnit_.

He's fine. At least, that's what he keeps telling himself. And fine is good enough. 


	8. Nature's Crescendo

He only bothers to stay in bed until the next afternoon, which is almost definitely not as long as Vespa probably wanted to, and Rita was going to be in his ass about it when she got back from...where ever she'd headed to, (lunch with Frannie, maybe?) but damn if finally getting out of bed isn't worth it.

There's a packet of tomato seeds on the counter. He only sort of remembers talking about them. Rita had already decided that she wanted flowers and radishes, and he'd said something about tomatoes.

He can plant those...probably. Look, it's seeds in the ground, so it can't be that hard, right? Have they even got a watering can, or a small shovel?

After searching for half an hour (and finally looking at the seed packet itself) he determines that they don't have a shovel, and he doesn't need them anyways, since you're not supposed to plant them very deep.

And as for a watering can, of course they don't have one but he decides an empty milk jug is good enough. And he even manages to fish one out of the recycling bin.

And then Juno wanders, setting a comfortable pace to the side of the house where the faucet comes out of the siding.

They also have a 'Lake' of course, called that for irony because it wasn't really a lake, more like a giant, weirdly deep puddle, but the Lake had dried up completely near the end of spring, when it was really starting to heat up.

He fills up the milk jug with the faucet, and trudges back a ways on the property, a yard or two away from the porch, and sits down on the ground, ignoring the way his knees crack as he does.

It's hot again, but it'll be a while before the sun really starts shining on this part of the house. He takes a look back at the beginnings of his chicken coop. 

At least no one had tried to finish it while he was out of action.

He puts down the jug next to him, and starts reading the tomato seeds package again. He's definitely not too engrossed in it to notice the sound of someone coming down the path.

The sounds of tall grass rustling is pretty hard to miss, after all, if the newcomers crop top short sleeved turtleneck and ridiculously tight striped jeans aren't. And the cat-eye sunglasses, that by no means match anything else he's wearing but still add something anyways.

Rex Glass. Well, _not_ Rex Glass but Juno hadn't really had the time lately to delve into that particular mystery. 

Glass waves as he takes long strides towards Juno. "Hello!" He says, and then " Hello, Detective! " Again. So he hadn't decided to forget that slip. "Quite the lovely place you have here, I'm sorry that I didn't get to see it before now. Its...hmm. Cozy. Big and a bit intimidating, but cozy."

"Hey, Glass. Quick question, how much caffeine did you have this morning?" 

He's close enough now that Juno can see him shift uncomfortably. "Oh, none. I'm just a bit nervous, actually, about something I wanted to ask you, but first let's talk about...whatever that is," he waves a hand towards the half-dinished chicken coop. "It looks like a light breeze may knock it over. What is it? A shipping crate?" 

Juno scowls, but he doesn't get up and doesn't give him the pleasure of watching Juno turn around to look at it. "It's not done yet. It's a chicken coop, honestly. Is it that hard to tell?" 

Rex peers down at him, underneath his sunglass lenses and grins. "Would you like me to lie to you, Juno? I'm told I'm a very good liar."

That makes him laugh, actually which he is quick to cut off. He likes Glass, even when he knows for a fact he isn't being honest with him. There's got to be some sort of good reason why, right? 

"No, I think I can handle the truth."

Rex tilts his sunglasses down. "I can't tell at all, and I think you should hire a real carpenter because your talents _must_ lie elsewhere." 

"You're lucky I like you." He shakes his head. "But yeah, definitely not really a builder, I'm just following some plans Mercury gave me. You're nervous? Didn't think people like you got nervous." 

He laughs, light and happy, before dropping to the ground next to Juno, sitting crosslegged and likely messing up those tight jeans that, yes, are even more flattering up close. "I do like to give off an air of confidence, but I get as nervous as anyone else, Detective. Can you guess why?"

With 'Why', he leans in and down, close and closer to Juno's face and grinning like a mean fox. Juno backs up quickly, part on instinct and part because he's easy, but not _that_ easy. 

Okay, maybe he is usually that easy, but not with anyone in the town he's gonna be stuck living in for the rest of his life. Not Glass, who won't tell him his name and is about as real as his hair color or his vibrant green eyes. 

"Nope," Juno says simply, looking back at the seed packet, and decides then and there that for all he likes Rex Glass, this is not something he's going to do, because historically, that has not ended well, no matter how attractive the person was. 

Glass seems to sense him shutting down and leans back into his own space, and the smile fades to a slight purse of his lips. Juno wishes he could see what his eyes look like behind the sunglasses now.

"Alright, then maybe I'll tell you later." He can't help the way his stomach clenchs like he's going to be sick when Glass says that. "What are you looking at?"

"Tomatoes, why?" 

He watches a singular eyebrow rise above the sunglasses frame. "You're taking this farming thing in stride, aren't you? I'd thought you'd be trying something _ah_ -closer to home."

Juno shakes a few seeds into his hand. "Guess I.am taking it in stride. That freelance programming whatever isn't exactly paying the bills and your city doesn't even have a fucking police department, so it's not like there are options for me." 

Glass leans over them again, not to make an advance, but like they're the most curious little things he's ever seen. He makes a small little strangled noise. "My, those are small." 

That makes Juno snort. "Yeah, uh...I guess so. " 

"May I help you plant them?"

"And then are you going to tell me what you're nervous for?" 

He turns to Juno and looks absolutely giddy. "Of course." 

So, they set to work. Juno reads the package instructions out loud no less than three times, and he's pretty sure Glass still plants them too far down, but he's not about to tell him that. 

Conversation goes easier than he expected, though. "What do you do, then, Glass?"

His use of his fake name makes the man smile. "Oh, just little things here and there. I watch the shop for my aunt Buddy one day a week, and occasionally I'll run errands for Mayor Wire, but fortunately I'm from a quite wealthy family originally and although my father has passed he left-" cue another laugh, that's supposed to sound...less awkward than it does, if Juno had a guess. "A bigger amount of money than I'd ever seen in my life. I didn't grow up wealthy so it was more than a bit of a shock."

"And he just...kept that fact a secret from you your whole life?"

"You're just as surprised about it as I was," he shrugs. "Pass the water?" 

Eventually Juno decides to usher them both back in the house because it hasn't been very long at all, but it's already too hot. He hates summer. Actually, he hates all seasons but especially summer.

There's a can of lemonade mix in the freezer and a tall pitcher in the cupboard, and while he's not especially classy in comparison to the man at his kitchen table, he's pretty sure canned lemonade will do. 

"May I tell you what I'm nervous about now, Juno?" Glass says, legs stretched out underneath the table and liable to be a tripping hazard on the other side. Juno tells him yes, but is more than a little preoccupied trying to use a potato masher to stir in the frozen lemonade mix with the water. "I know I haven't known you very long," Juno nods then, because it seems like good timing. Should have put the can in the microwave first. "But I'd love to get to know you better, of course. I was wondering if you'd be free Friday evening for dinner?"

It's silent in the old house for a moment, aside from the sound of a potato masher dropping onto the counter. "Me?"

"Yes," Glass sighs, but he doesn't sound upset, really. 

"Date?"

"I was certainly hoping so."

He isn't thinking...Well, Juno can blame it on anything, really. It's easy enough to get caught up in a moment, after all, and it's not like Rex's coy wink or tight pants helps anything. 

He's not thinking about the other times, or the fact that it's only a matter of time before he turns into O'Flaherty or worse, his mother. He's not thinking about how stupid it is to date someone in your tiny town that you can get away from, or the fact that Glass hasn't been at all honest with him...

"Yeah. I'd like that."

And he would.


	9. Dreamscape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will I ever not wax poetic for paragraphs about Peter's bad fashion sense and that juno finds it sexy? Experts say no.

It's Thursday afternoon.

Ughhhhh.

"Ughhh." 

"Ughh," comes the responding groan from the couch across the house.

"Uggghhhh," Juno says again, determined to not be outdone. 

Rita sneezes. 

They sit in silence for a while, Juno mentally bemoaning the houses lack of anything but a bad swamp cooler (named appropriately, it you weren't aware, it made the house even more humid) and wondering how their four chickens were faring outside.

Which, _apparently_ they did better than Juno or Rita in the heat, but that wasn't saying much on its own. 

Well, they had plenty of water, and according to the internet and also Loo, who'd sold the chickens to them, that'd be enough for them to be fine. 

Juno wishes that was enough for him to be fine. 

"I want ice cream!" Rita shouts from the couch. 

He can't help but roll his eyes. "Go get some, then. We're adults, we can get ice cream whenever we want. Plus we've got that five dollars till that money comes in from Buddy's store from the eggs tomorrow."

"...Oh, really? Okay. C'mon, Mister Steel, you're comin' with me."

Her head pops up behind the couch like a mole. He just groans and throws an arm over the kitchen floor. It's arguably the coolest place in the house, after all. "No. It's too hot to exist, much less put any clothes on." 

Rita rolls her eyes at him like _he's_ in the wrong here, somehow. "It's icecream, Mister Steel, and the stores maybe ten minutes away. _Icecream_ , Juno!" 

Somehow he manages to peel himself off the linoleum and find a shirt and pants. Upstairs is even worse than downstairs somehow, so Juno tries to spend as little time up there as humanly possible until around one in the morning when it finally gets cool again. 

Outside mercifully isn't a whole lot worse than downstairs. Rita grabs his arm and drags him down the road happily. Maybe because of the icecream, or the fact that the store happens to have air conditioning and their house does not. 

Buddy's sitting at the front counter, flipping through a magazine until the door chimes. "If it isn't my favorite customers."

Rita scoffs. "Oh please, Miss Buddy. You say that to all the people in town." 

"Maybe, but I'm not lying. Can I help you find anything?" 

They both shake their heads. "No thank you, Miss Buddy. We're just here for ice cream and I _definitely_ know where that is."

And so Juno finds out where all the change he'd collected and shoved in the bottom of his dresser since they'd got here went. 

They're both on the couch now, two spoons in a tub of raspberry chocolate chunk icecream. Like a thousand other nights, mostly. Except the lack of any real recent emotional trauma and a third member of the sulking party. 

Juno's stomach lurches and he's quiet for a little longer.

"Hey, so..." It's weird he hasn't brought it up yet. Then again, Juno hadn't dated at all since Diamond. 

Oh, god. He hadn't dated since his fiancee had dumped him, what did that say? His voice breaks when he speaks again, turning towards her to get Rita's attention. "I'm going on a date tomorrow night."

She smiles for a second. "I know. That Mister Rose, right? From the grocery store?"

He nods. 

And then she gets this thoughtful look on her face. "What's he going by now?" 

Okay, so she'd heard the whole 'That's not your name' exchange. "Uhh, Rex Glass." 

Rita makes a little humming noise as she tilts her head and talks around her spoonful of icecream. "That's real funny, Mister Steel." 

What? "How so? Other than the obvious of course, that the guy can't just use his legal name." 

She shakes her head. "Oh, nothin'. Jus', you'll let me help you dress up tomorrow, right?" He nods, and they both go quiet again. Nothing. Huh. Not nothing, obviously. Rita wasn't a good liar. 

No need to follow that up, though. Not right now, when he can go and be happy without worrying what Glass's problem is it how long it's gonna last, and exactly how bad it's gonna be when things inevitably head south.

They watch three episodes of The Quarter Moon Murders (because damn if he isn't a sucker for a good noir) and both shuffle off to bed. 

Juno ends up waking up twice. The first time, the sun's still rising in the sky, and he's rolled out of bed and managed to whack his nose on the floor. 

The second time is when it's too hot to sleep again, around one-thirty. Still on the floor, he remembers that he didn't tell Rita about his planting tomatoes and it has to be a good ninety-five degrees outside.

He doesn't know how he manages to work himself up like that over still germinating seeds, but he throws himself downstairs within three minutes of gaining consciousness and grabs the milk jug he's been using for the past couple of days. 

"Wow," Alessandra's voice comes from the living room, where it sounds like the little tiny T.V. is on, crackling and hissing so that this far away he can't make out individual words. "I didn't know you had a roomate, Rita. Being that _I never see him anymore_." 

"It's been two weeks!" He yells back, over the static and Rita's laughing. 

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you're too big time for us now, going out on a date with that talk handsome guy. What was his name? Perseus Shah?"

"Oh! I forgot 'ta tell you about that, Alessandra! But uh...I'll wait. It can wait." 

Okay, this is getting weird. "Rita, what are you hiding?" He shuts the faucet off and hoists the jug onto the counter and tries to figure how he's going to convince her to tell. She's stubbron, and bad at hiding things, which isn't a great combination. 

She does that nervous giggle. "Oh nothin', Mister Steel! I'll tell you after your date. Hey, you need to start getting ready in like four hours, isn't that exciting!"

Well, wasn't that just such a smooth topic switch. She's not hiding anything, clearly. "Yep, bye. I'm going to look at the chickens."

"Okay, but boss!"

He's halfway out the door when he turns and sees Alessandra scoot closer on the couch to Rita. "Why do you call Juno 'Boss'?" 

"That's a real long story."

"Well, I've got time."

His tomatoes are okay. They haven't sprouted yet, and he's starting to get sort of impatient, honestly but it hasn't even been a week. More like three days. 

He waters them and goes to sit with the chickens. 

Juno _gets_ chickens. They lay eggs, they peck, make weird noises and occasionally they'll roll in the dirt in a weird attempt to get clean. They're sort of like Rita, when she's not hiding things that he can't be bothered to investigate. They're simple, easy to understand. 

Unlike literally anything else. 

He tries not to think too hard on that thought and decides to head inside and try a last attempt at figuring out what Rex Glass's game is. 

That's it. He doesn't want glass windows, he just wants to know the truth about a tall, too-thin man who makes terrible fashion decisions and won't give Juno a damn name!

He goes back to the floor and tries not to look at the two pieces of paper on the window sill that he's been ignoring like the plague since Jet had put them there. And Juno shuts his eyes.

"You don't put out on the first date, alright? It just ain't classy. And I know he's cute or whatever but still."

Juno hopes he's not visibly blushing, be he definitely feels warmer. "Rita, no one has said 'put out' unironically since the twenties. Just help me figure out if the buttons on this vest are done up evenly."

She blinks at him before looking down at the buttons. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just tryin' to help you out, you know?"

"Look," he sighs. " I'm not gonna go out with him more than just the once, alright? The last thing I want is to have to see my ex every day when he decides I'm too high maintenance or something." 

It doesn't ring right with him to say that. Why, he can't figure, but it's gotta have something to do with the way Glass looked at him the other day when they were planting, or the way Juno felt dancing with him.

He wants to be with this mysterious douchebag.

Rita smiles at him, and looks a little sad. "Mister Steel, anyone else might call you out on that lie, but I don't think I will, y'know? Since I'm just that nice."

"Just help me figure out the damn buttons, Rita." 

She gives him a glare but messes with them for a second anyways and then pats his chest. "Lookin' sharp! You just going to that restaurant in town?" 

"I dunno, he said dinner. Dunno if that restaurant is any good either. Hey, we should go out for dinner sometime. Out of town. It'd be fun."

He gets the distinct feeling that after this date he's going to need the distraction.

Someone knocks on the door outside and Rita sqeals, nearly at the exact same time. "Ooh, he's here, mister Steel! Go!" 

She says go, and waves her arms like she's ushering him out, but she's still the first one out the bathroom door and at the entry way. Not to say Juno isn't close behind, because he is. But he's still pulling his shoes on when she opens the door, and looking wide-eyed up at Glass from his folded over position. 

He looks like a pirate. Or maybe a vampire would be more accurate. Big puffy white shirt that is definitely meant to have an undershirt under it (it doesn't, but Juno's okay with that) and high waisted pants with way too many belts. 

Not to mention the brightest of bright red contacts and round sunglasses sitting on the top of his head. His waist is tiny in a way that leaves Juno wanting to feed the poor guy at the same time it leaves him wanting to see if he could wrap both his hands around it and kiss there. And his smile...god, his little self-satisifed smile, like he sees how Juno's looking at him.

Rex Glass is stunning.

"So," he's talking to Rita but looking at Juno the way Juno's looking at him. "When's curfew for this one?"

Rita sounds like she's being drowned out, but he still hears her chuckle. "Awh, please. It's either seven-thirty or two in the mornin', depending on the day. Have a good time, won't 'cha?" 

Rex smiles even wider. "I'm sure we will, thank you miss Rita."


	10. The Stardrop Saloon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next couple chapters are kinda heavy so make sure you look at the tags for warnings! This one's not as bad but uhh the two after are and then we're back to the cute stuff, mostly.

Juno feels good, linking arms with Glass and walking into the Stardrop Saloon. It's pretty busy in there, which normally he might mind because small town gossip, but nothing could ruin this high right now. 

For a second he wonders why he put off dating again for this long, before remembering the argument that had his fiancee leaving him, and the way every relationship before that had ended. 

But Juno's not gonna let it go that far, this time.

"Good evening, Vicky!"

The woman behind the bar just waves and cleans the glass in her hand. "Hey Clarke. You and Steel take a seat, I'll send someone ever there in a minuite."

He can't decide what bothers him more, that everyone in town has a different name for Glass, or that everyone knew his name when he hadn't even met them yet.

Oh, no he had, actually. Vicky and her wife had brought dinner over one night in spring, and couldn't stay because they had a kid at home. Vicky seemed alright. Her wife seemed a lot more talkative than she was. Bouncy, maybe like Rita is.

Glass tugs on his arm gently towards a table in the back, Juno sits across from him, taking in the place. It's not big, but it isn't crowded, either. 

The back is mostly isolated from the other tables, but just across from them is two arcade machines and behind them is a pool table.

Glass leans across the table, catching his attention. "I'm glad that you came. I...Honestly wasn't sure if you'd want to."

"What made you think that?"

He's shrugs. "Don't take this the wrong way Juno, but you didn't seem to be very happy to see me the other day. I thought I'd said something wrong."

"It's not you, it was just..." _C'mon , Steel, think of something, let him down easy. Tell him you're not looking for anything serious and you'd rather just be friends_. "Ugh, still not feeling great. I'm sure you heard about my small medical incident from Buddy or Vespa?" 

No, not what he'd wanted to say.

Glass offers him a small pout. "I certainly did-not that I was prying. More like...eavesdropping. Although that doesn't sound a lot better for me, Vespa is very serious about her doctor-patient confidentiality. Not used to the heat?"

He shakes his head. "Not that, just forgot to be drinking water or whatever. Rita and me are only from Hyperion, which is like three hours away. I got working on that chicken coop you were making fun of. Where are you from, Glass?" 

He shrugs. "Not Hyperion."

Juno can't help but glare. "You're not too keen on the whole personal questions thing, are you?" 

"I'm merely making an attempt to obfuscate my past association with a fascist paramilitary organization, of course." 

There is a long, uncomfortable silence. "That was clearly a joke, Juno. Maybe one in poor taste, but do lighten up some." 

A man comes up to the table, then. Thank god. "What can I get you two?" That manages to break the tension a little bit. 

The waiter leaves, and Glass smiles at him. Not as wide as his usual predatory grin, but sweet and sincere. "I don't like answering personal questions, you're right. I do apologize for being cagey about it. I like you, Juno but it's simply what's best for me right now. I'm sure there are things you wouldn't be overly eager to tell me."

Well, he's definitely not wrong. "I'm surprised you haven't figured any of that out yet, actually. Does nobody in this town bother to Google each other?" He's does, and half the time he can't figure out how to wake up his laptop after it'd fallen asleep.

That makes Glass laugh. "Well, I can't speak for everyone, of course but I like to have some bits of mystery to figure out. You're that much of a public figure?" 

Juno grunts. "Maybe not in the way you are."

"Oh? Does that mean you've figured out my secrets?" He leans in across the table again, closer and closer, and voice dropping in a way that leaves Juno sitting up a little more. He's _got_ to be doing that on purpose.

"Well no, but I've got enough to figure your probably rich enough to have a name everyone would know, even living in the middle of nowhere."

"Not to brag, but you're not wrong. As you might then imagine, I might not want all the attention that come with being recognizable. I might find it detrimental to my career even."

"Wow, what the fuck do you do?" 

Glass laughs him off and spins some ridiculous tale that not even Juno's too starstruck to belive. 

They eat and trade stories (Juno ones about his police career and one or two about his and Ben's friendlier childhood moments, Glass entirely fake ones, with maybe a little truth here and there that Juno doesn't question). 

It's nice. He feels a little hopeless flutter inside, even.

Glass insists on paying, ("Very wealthy, remember?") And Juno barely has the patience to argue as much as is polite. 

He thinks they're going home, but he's led up a hill and to a bench at the edge of town, facing a building that reminds him a lot of the house he'd started out with, only this one has a clock tower that reflects the moon and double doors. Glass rests his arm on the back the bench. On Juno's shoulders.

Okay, perfect time to say something. Glass beats him to it.

"It's the town hall building. I'm told it used to be very pretty."

"Uh, oh?"

"You know what else is very pretty?"

"Oh my god." It's awful. He still blushes before Rex has even finished. That flutter happens again.

"I was going to say that _you are,_ Juno. Really, though, if it's alright with you, I had a wonderful time. With you. We ought to do this again." 

There. It's the perfect opening.

So why can't he make words come out? "You don't want to do that, Glass." His voice breaks, and his partner winces.

Even after recovering from the initial shock and shrinks back a little and still doesn't move his arm from the back of the bench, so Juno leans forward to escape the gentle contact. "Of course I do. What do you mean I don't?" 

"You don't want...You don't want to be with me. You just don't. if you knew anything about me, you'd know that." 

"I don't have to know anything," Glass says. "But I do want to know about you, Juno. That's why I invited you to dinner in the first place. I'm stupid like that, I think I'd still like you no matter what you told me."

Juno stands up and sort of wobbles in place in a useless attempt to fix what feels like heartburn. "Everyone says that, Glass. Just forget about me, alright? I'm trouble you don't want, even if you don't know it yet. This was-" he inhaled deeply. "It was fun, but it can't be any more than that." 

And then he turns around, and refuses to look at Glass again, and walks away. 


	11. Tropicala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So is just no one gonna update in the penumbra tag? Okay, fine I'll do it!
> 
> (Also, I'll try to be better about replying to comments this chapter, but thanks for all the kind words, and the yelling at Juno, because he deserves it!)

"Why don't I get 'ta hear how it went, huh?" Rita yells from the porch. "You promised!"

"Because I don't want to talk about it, " he calls back, nearly getting a feather in his mouth for the trouble. She doesn't argue, just goes inside and closes the door behind her. 

Juno hurts, but he knows that he's saved himself a lot of trouble in the end, and so maybe it was worth it. 

He just leans against the wall of the coop for a while. 

The chickens never fail to bring him some semblance of peace. Weird, but maybe it was a sign that this farming shit was the right thing to do. maybe they could take a loan out and get a barn and a cow or something. That'd be good money, probably. They didn't have collateral, though. 

The smallest (and the bluest?) of the chickens decides to flap its way up and use its feet to dig into this loose dress pants and sort of climb its way up his leg. "Damnit, Harriet." 

Okay, so he wasn't supposed to name the chickens and get attatched, but he had anyways, and the ladies were all named after fictional detectives. 

To be fair, Rita called them by name too, so she wasn't at all blameless. 

He did name them, though which only cemented what a dork we was. Harriet (named for Harry Dresden), Nancy (Nancy Drew-Who Rita named, if anyone asks), Jess (Jessica Fletcher), and Cole (Cole Phelps). 

Was it obvious that he missed his police days? 

He was good at that, it wasn't all just a shot in the dark like planting anything or figuring out how to make chickens lay eggs in their nests instead of on the ground or in their coop. He could look at a problem and solve it like it was a kid's game.

He takes Harriet and leaves her to flap back down to the ground, wondering if maybe he'd done better on that last case then Diamond would've taken him back. 

Probably not, but it's still a thought he lets himself think for a minute, sitting in a chicken coop in the almost pitch black. 

( _Would Glass take him back?_ He decides he doesn't want to think about it any more than he has to.)

He mostly manages to keep the date with Glass entirely out of mind until the Luau.

Or at least, he pretends he's able to, which is probably better than admitting to himself exactly how much of an effect Glass continually has on him, and how sometimes it's tiring to just have Rita, especially when she's been spending so much time with Alessandra, lately. 

Not that she doesn't make time for him, just it isn't them and only them, like it used to be. 

She only bothers him once about the date, the day after. "So can I yell tell you 'bout what I know about your boyfriend? Pleaaaase?" 

"No! He's not my boyfriend, Rita and I really don't care."

Lies. Lies, all lies because he's waited to hear what she apparently knows for what feels like years, and he really _does_ care. She just shrugs and goes back to painting his nails.

He drags her away from her TV show the morning of the Luau to help him make cookies. She's not a great cook, but Juno figures mixing wet ingredients together is pretty easy.

"So." She says.

"So?" He doesn't look up from his recipe.

She shrugs. "Alessandra and I are gonna go to the movies, and I was wonderin' if you wanted to go with? Y'Know, like a friend thing? All of us together?"

"Why would you invite me on a date?" Rita looks at him like she doesn't understand, and he really can't help it if his mouth sort of just falls open, and the bowl in her hands almost falls. "You didn't know?" 

Her chest rises and falls heavily . "No, what? Really?!" 

Juno can't help but laugh. She's usually so observant that it's scary. Usually not even he's as good at picking out the details as she is and she can't even tell that Alessandra likes her. At least she looks pretty happy about it. "Yeah. I can't believe you didn't notice. You think she's spending all that time over here for me?"

Slowly she goes back to stirring the sugar and butter and vanilla together. "I thought were were just...Y'know, gal pals. Not that I haven't...I mean Alessandra's real cute, you know." 

Juno nods in agreement, because yes, he has eyes. 

"I just ain't ever thought'a her like that, y'know. Actually I thought a lot about how good at cuddlin' she is. And how springy and nice her hair is to play with. And how soft her lips must be-it's like she's always puttin' chapstick on except I ain't never seen her do it." 

"You're so oblivious," He glares for a moment before turning around to grab the bag of flour off the kitchen shelf and shove a measuring cup into it. "You're so oblivious even _I_ think you're oblivious. I'm not going in your date with you, Rita. But you can let me do your hair before."

She considers this. "Yeah, okay. But only if you figure out how to do that pretty bun thing again." 

He only rolls his eyes. "I'm sure I can manage it. Is that mixed in?" 

"I think so. When do we get to eat them?" 

"They don't even have any flour in them yet, it's literally just butter and sugar, slow down." Rita frowns but hands back the bowl with minimal grumbling. 

It's dark, which means it's supposed to have cooled down some, but Juno doubts that it actually has. 

This at least doesn't feel as foreboding or stressful as the flower dance did, even if it's just as crowded. 

The entire town shows up to these things, and strangely enough he can name all of them, or at least most of them, he's _seen_ all of them before. The whole town. Isn't that strange?

There are lights all along the beach, posts dug into the sand, illuminating the many tables set out, and to one side the same dance floor platform that was set out during the flower dance. In the middle is a huge soup pot, bubbling and stewing. It smells nice, so of course Juno migrates that way before continuing his look around.

On the other side of the beach, near the shore, people have chairs and blankets layed out into the sand, but what catches his eye is the cabin behind it all, with the lace curtains in the front window. 

Juno suddenly wishes he had lace curtains, and he can't figure why. they're tacky and stupid and fragile and too dainty for anything he ought to be around, but they make the cabin- _Glass's cabin_ -Look like a home. 

He wants a home, sometimes. Not just a house.

He sees Glass open the front door, grinning and carrying a plate of clearly store-bought treats, before balancing the plate in one hand and closing the door with the other. 

He's entirely oblivious to Juno's presence, but Juno's not oblivious to his, or his obnoxiously bright colored Hawaiian shirt, or his too-wide smile, or his exactly one pierced ear, or the way he looks so at home, walking towards his aunts. Or his store-bought goods. Who brings those to a potluck? Can Glass not bake? 

Juno Steel is head over heels in love, and suddenly he's sick of denying it. For better or for worse, he wants Rex Glass. 

The fact that he has this revelation while standing over a massive soup pot next to Rita and Alessandra having a good go at any public decency laws Pelican Town may have (they're also next to the soup pot) doesn't lessen the blow that is that revelation. 

So, what's he gonna do about it?


	12. A Stillness In The Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just two things, today! One is that this is probably the heaviest chapter in here, and because Juno grew up in a pretty different situation than in canon, it's pretty different than canon.
> 
> The second is that required listening for this chapter is '(I Always Kill) The Things I Love' by Claudia Brücken. Possibly on repeat.

It's the end of summer. 

One other person really knows what that means. What _today_ means, really. 

Sure, lots of people had probably read the obituaries, if not the five or so news stories written about today. None of them knew though, the way he did. 

One year ago exactly. It feels like yesterday, some days and others it feels like more than just the one year.

Juno doesn't want to get out of bed for a ridiculous number of reasons. Rita as has other ideas because of course she does. 

Thank God the door upstairs has a lock on it. "C'mon! Mister Steel, please! You can't just stay in bed all day."

"Yeah, I sure can, actually!"

"He wouldn't want you to, and you know that! He'd tell you to get up, right now!"

He loves Rita. He tells himself this over and over again. It doesn't help any, he still screams back when he should've just stayed quiet. "Rita, you don't fucking know what he'd want, and if you ever say anything like that again, you're leaving and not coming back, got it?" 

Juno's expecting an argument. He wants an argument. 

Anything to make him something other than in the verge of tears. Angry is good. Angry isn't useless and sad. But no argument comes. It's just quiet enough for what he'd said to sink in and make him feel even fucking worse. 

She's right. Her and Ben would gang up on him, if he was still here.

Now he _is_ crying.

"Okay...Okay. Sorry, Mister Steel. But...I want to go see him."

He's not sure if he does. "Okay. We'll go see him."

There's another grave next to him. Two, actually. It's not right, if you ask Juno, but no one ever did. 

The woman that killed him is next to Ben, and next to her is the man that made his brother's home life miserable, to say nothing of Juno's own. Juno's

There are a lot of flowers on Ben's stone. A few on Ramses. None on Sarah 

"Rita? Could you give me a second alone?" It's hard to ask for. She just nods and heads down in the direction of the car. Once she's out of sight, he raises his hand and carefully traces his brothers name in the stone. "Benzaiten Eros Steel". Good job, mom. You gave one kid a middle name that he could actually spell.

Juno wishes he had a worse recollection of how Ben had died. But no, it's clear as crystal. At least, most of it is. Like it'd just happened yesterday.

He didn't go home much, after moving out. When he saw Ben, it was usually at his dance studio, or at Juno's apartment or Rita's. But he did, sometimes. To see Ben.

He and his mother had had a stupid fight the week before-he can't even remember what it was about. Something stupid that had devolved into screaming (maybe about Diamond? About how not even Diamond could deal with him? Juno doesn't care) because he could scream back now, with an easy way out. 

The door. The _front_ door. She sure as hell wasn't gonna chase him out into her nice neighborhood.

She wasn't gonna hit him either, not with Ramses in the other room. Maybe she would have, at one point, he doesn't know. 

But he's an adult, now and he's not going to be pushed around anymore, or slammed into granite countertops face first, or have his hand shoved onto hot stoves.

Yelling back at Sarah Steel for the first time had felt...Good, maybe. 

There had only been one thing that has made him feel better, and it doesn't really contradict the whole 'Shitty Person' thing she was so keen on making him understand.

Anyways, he sees Ben a week after that fight. 

They go to lunch, Ben invites him to some dance thing he wouldn't even think of going to it it wasn't his twin. Juno goes to pick him up next afternoon, heads in the door in to his childhood home, O'Flaherty's fucking mansion and there in the hallway is something that's burned into his brain forever, like a flash gone off too bright.

There's Ben. Already dead. Already cold, and lifeless, and there's blood everywhere, and there's Sarah Steel standing next to him, eyes sunk in, equally cold and lifeless, except the difference is that she's still breathing and he's not. 

"My baby," she sobs, shaking. There's a gun in her hands, rattling. "My baby boy-" and then she looks up and sees Juno, and the crocodile tears abruptly stop. "You did this...You should be dead instead of him." 

It hits Juno...In her drug, or medication, or alcohol fuled haze, she'd mistaken Ben for him. She'd meant to kill _him_ , and instead, there was Ben, face up on the white and black marble tile stained crimson, _dead_.

And it's his fault. She's right. It should have been him.

He gets angry. He shoots Sarah Steel, and she's bleeding out on her pristine tile, too. That could've been the end of that. Because even with his brother dead in front of him, he feels sort of good. He feels...not light exactly. 

No, not good. 

_Amazing_. 

She can't ever hurt anyone the way she did Ben ever again. She can't hurt herself anymore, either. Can't hurt him.

That's not the end, though. He must've been in shock, but not enough shock to stop him from realizing that Ben's dead, and it's his fault, because the gun goes somewhere else next.

He'd missed. 

The sky is so blue, today. 

He wishes he'd brought flowers for Ben. Maybe...Maybe he could grow some? Not now, it's too hot to start most things, but in the spring. His brother would think that was hilarious. Juno, growing flowers. 

Standing up is slow work. So is leaving, but he's expecting that, and doesn't worry much. He doesn't talk to Ben, or any of that sentimental bull. Ben can't hear him, and Juno hasn't had any new things to say since it happened. Didn't have much to say then, either. 

Rita's got her feet up on the dashboard, the windows up, the air conditioning up as high as it'll go, and the radio up so loud the car shakes. He gets in the driver's seat as slow as he pleases, ignoring her grumbling about letting the cool air out.

"D'you feel any better?" She asks.

Juno shakes his head. "Not really." 

"Me neither. Let's go get milkshakes and go home."

He ignores the somber tone of her voice and she ignores how his attention isn't exactly on the road. 

The milkshakes don't help, either. 


	13. Song of Feathers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't seen yet, this lovely art by @kelenia on tumblr, look it it! It's so perfect so crazy huge thank you to them!

It's raining when Juno manages to finally make his way back onto the beach. First rain in a ridiculously long time, but at least that means he doesn't have to water those tomato plants today.

That's good, because at a first glance, this is going to be an emotionally taxing day. The less things to worry about, the better.

He hugs his coat closer around him, shuffling closer to the snuggly little cabin halfway nestled into the treeline. 

Juno hasn't been putting this off on purpose, really. Just, last week was the anniversary and he hadn't felt like doing a whole lot anyways, and after that...

Okay, _maybe_ after that he was putting it off for no real reason other than just a ridiculous amount of nerves. 

The cabin never seems to get closer as he walks towards it-until suddenly the door is at his feet. His hand comes up to knock-

And lowers. Rinse and repeat. Juno Steel, amateur farmer, former detective, and coward.

The door opens smoothly, even though he doesn't think he actually managed to knock. Glass looks at him, looking tired, of all things. 

Worn. Human. 

Things Juno wasn't sure he _could_ look up until right now. It's not humbling, but it strikes some cord in him.

"Oh..." Glass seeems surprised to see him, but just for a second. He hides it well, after that. "Juno. May I help you?"

He's practiced this in the mirror every morning since the Luau. It catches in his throat anyways, damnit. "I-Hi. I just wanted to apologize for...Well, you know. I brought pie?" Junk holds it up like an offering. It has foil over it, so at least it isn't soggy by now.

Glass immediately seizes up, slightly. He straightens up and his shoulders sink closer to his spine. Juno catches his eyes, and this time he's pretty sure he doesn't have contacts in. 

They're a simple golden brown, like brown sugar, maybe, or molasses. Juno could get lost in them forever, even if they aren't electric green or neon pink. 

"You don't need to apologize, I just misread the situation. I ought to be the one apologising, really." Glass starts to close the door, and now Juno's the one to panic, nearly dropping the pie in his hands.

"No, No wait! You didn't, I promise!" The door stops halfway. "I needed to figure out what I wanted, I guess. I'm sorry I was a jerk about it, but uhh..."

Rex raises a perfectly arched eyebrow at him after a very long silence. "What _do_ you want, Juno?" 

He frowns, slightly. "You. Or...Well I want to make things right with you. Because I like you, Glass. If you couldn't tell. I didn't want to be with anyone. But you...you're something different, I guess. I get it if you dont. I ran off and everything and you were so nice the entire time, I just-"

Glass smiles for a second, all teeth before leaning on over Juno's shoulder and wrapping his arms around him. "Oh, Juno. Yes, yes, we can try again. I was hurt, but you apologized and I want to try again. But it's just Peter. To you." 

"What?!" Had he just told him...?

He leans away and tilts his head. His gaze is soft. "That's my name, Juno. Will you say it please? It's Peter."

Juno can't help but laugh. He'll say it a billion times, if that's what he wants. "Of course. _Of course, Peter. Peter, Peter, Peter._ Can I kiss you?"

"Please do, I-" he doesn't get to finish, because Juno doesn't let him. He smashes his mouth onto Peter's, stretching up enough to reach him. It's quick, too quick. 

That's okay, he figures, since Peter didn't seem too adverse. He can go back for more. If this next part goes okay, at least. He's almost forgotten already.

"I've got to tell you something...I don't want you to find out from anyone else before I get the chance to tell you. It's not great. It's pretty bad, actually." 

Peter just presses a kiss to Juno's forehead. "Come inside, darling and sit down and you can tell me anything. But I meant it when I said I don't know that you could say anything to make me any less enamored, Juno." 

Juno's not at all sure about that, but he goes in and sits down anyways, handing Peter the pie and taking a second to look around the place. It's about what he'd expected. 

Warm and cozy, pictures of his aunts and himself on the walls, pictures of another man, older. That's his father, right? 

There aren't any pictures on their walls, Juno thinks. What would they put up? There are only a few of him and Ben as kids, and he's not sure he could stand to walk past those every day. 

Some of him and Ben and Rita. Those would be a little better, maybe but he's not sure. Him and Rita? There aren't many of those, either. Besides, what purpose would that serve? They live with each other.

There's a piano in the corner of the front room. Does Peter play? Juno could imagine his long, spindly fingers working the keys gracefully. Besides, why have it if you couldn't play it? 

Peter disappears for a moment, while he's looking still, and comes back with a mug full of something comfortably warm, and curls up on the cushion next to him, his own cup in hand. "You seem awfully amazed by the decor."

"It's...just cozy. Like in a book, maybe. It feels too nice to be true." 

He smiles again. "It's awfully lonely though, Juno. I think...Will you give me a chance to explain something after yourself?"

He swallows thickly, and nods at Peter. "Anything, if you still want me here."

And with that, Juno starts to tell him about Northstar, and a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood that housed less than beautiful things. Sarah Steel, and the only thing that kept her from going completely downhill, the ever manipulative Ramses O'Flaherty-Stage name Jack Takano. 

And Ben. 

He leaves out Diamond, just this time, because that's another issue entirely, and isn't a justification for his hesitancy in relationships. Peter makes him want to forget everything that happened with Diamond. 

Everything else, though is fair game. The night he and his mother had argued, everything that followed that, his time in the hospital after, and how Rita had been the only one there for him in even the smallest capacity, and Ramses's will, which only left him the house here because he was the only one left. 

Peter listens intently, and takes his hand when Juno's face gets all squinty and thoughtful, like maybe he's not ready to tell all of this out loud. 

"Dear?" Peter says, once Juno falls quiet. He hums in response, not looking at him. "I love you, Juno Steel. And it's awfully soon for something like that, but I do. I don't know what I would have done in that situation, I can't even pretend to. So I suppose all I can say is, I'm glad you're here. _Here_ here, but also in Stardew Valley, with me. I don't know why anyone would be angry at you for what you did. You're not a bad person, Juno."

His expression darkens, briefly. "Not because it was right, but because someone can really only hurt you so much before you break, Juno and that isn't your fault." 

When he puts it like that, it makes Juno feel less sick to his stomach about it. Peter continues, "You won't try to hurt yourself again?" 

"Of course not, I'm not...I don't even think about it anymore, really. I mean, sometimes, but I'm getting better and I wouldn't do anything."

"Good. Back to it, then?" 

Peter leans over, smiling, and Juno puts a hand on his chest to keep him at that length away and frowns. "I thought you had something to say, too."

"Alright. It'll be a little long, you know. If we need to pause for some activities-"

"I think I can wait," Juno snorts. "Tempting, though."

Peter just looks at him for a second, warm and radiating that home-y feeling again, and Juno's certain he did the right thing.


	14. Starwatcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Messing around with my outline, and realized this is nearly at a close? Not to say there won't be a couple one-offs in this universe because I am a sucker for my own AU but the main bit will be done. I'm so grateful for all the comments and kudos I get, so thank you guys!

Peter is eight when Mag adopts him, and takes him home to the little house in the shady part of New Kinshasa.

Even at eight, he's well aware that this home, however new, and big, and scary, is much better than no home at all.

Mag takes some getting used to. He's loud and boisterous, and moves too fast for Peter, who jumps at loud noises still and sobs when he drops a plate and Mag is home to see. The plate doesn't shatter, doesn't even crack, but he still cries because he's done something wrong. Mag doesn't care about the plates, he just wants to know what's wrong, and at first Peter doesn't understand, but in time he will.

Mag's gone a lot, too. Peter doesn't know why, but he's alright with that. He likes the man just fine, but he likes time to himself, too.

After all, reading is hard when he isn't alone because Mag always wants to know everything he's done today and yesterday and always, wants to go out and play, wants to do something with him. Peter isn't like that, really. He just wants to stay quiet and unnoticed, but he likes that Mag likes him.

At the time he doesn't realize why it's a bad idea to leave an eight year old home alone all day. He can care for himself just fine. He has for as long as he can remember, after all, and he's pretty good at remembering to put his books down and make lunch for himself out of whatever's in the comfortably full pantry.

And school-When he starts it, the next fall-isn't far. He walks, since there isn't a bus stop close. He doesn't make many friends, but he figures friends don't last all that long anyways, and he's better off spending his time soaking up knowledge and skills like a sponge while it's being offered to him.

He gets good grades, and Mag is proud. He's distant, but not really.

Life goes on. This is Peter's normal, now and lord, if it isn't better than the street, or the families that hadn't wanted a child, just a scapegoat or another helping hand without recompense.

Until he's seventeen, and one day he goes home, and there's a camera crew in the living room, and two women dressed up nicer than he'd ever seen in real life. But no Mag.

Peter just lingers in the doorway, hoping to not get caught. One of the women says something about a company, and changes, and some other things he doesn't quite catch due to entering in the middle of the press conference happening in his damn living room.

The other one catches his eye, just for a second before he ducks out of the doorway. Something clicks inside and chatter starts, so he figures they must've turned off the camera.

He heads straight to his room, because where else is he meant to go? Leaving would get him nowhere, just back out onto the streets. He paces back and forth in his room, absentmindedly re-adjusting papers on his desk and the few knicknacks on his shelves as he goes. 

Of course, the way his mind is racing he forgets to lock the door behind him, and the two women from the living room enter without bothering to knock.

He gets a better look at them, and thinks the taller red haired one looks familiar, somehow, although he can't imagine why. She's the one to speak, at first, gracefully holding her hand out for him to shake.

"Peter, right? My name is Buddy, and this is my wife Vespa. I'm sorry that we had to meet like this, if I'd known about you I would've wanted to meet you sooner."

What? What does any of that mean? He shakes her hand, but stays quiet. 

Vespa talks next. "We're sorry about Mag. Well, _actually_ some of us guessed that doucheba-"

"Vespa!" Buddy interjects sharply. "No matter what my brother may or may not have deserved, he's still his father figure." Ah, and that's why she looks familiar. Like Mag.

"What's going on here? " Peter manages to get out. It's squeaky and kind of sad, but it's all he can do.

The two share a look that doesn't inspire any confidence. Buddy frowns, deeply. "Do you know what Mag did for work, Peter?"

He shakes his head. " I...never thought to ask."

Juno glares, and tilts his head to one side. "You lived with a guy for almost a decade and didn't ask what he did for a living?"

Peter shrugs. "Every time I mentioned it he got...defensive is probably the best way to phrase it. I didn't care if he was out selling drugs or whatever else. He was the only person in my life that had ever been there when I just needed someone. He made an effort to be a good father, and that's all I cared about."

Buddy and Vespa share another look, and it makes Peter angry, for some reason he can't quite understand.

"Darling, Mag owned a very large real-estate agency, and more than that he was-Don't give me that look, Vespa-He was..."

Where Buddy hesitates, Vespa steps in. "He was a mob boss, basically. Got mixed up with the wrong people, those Kanagawas, you know?" He didn't. "Thought he could do good in the world through crime or some shit and now he's got twelve bullets in him that day otherwise."

His heart feels like it's somewhere across the room, and he can't stop his jaw from falling. "Mag is...Mag is dead?" Peter's breathing speeds up, and there's nothing that will slow it down again. There had been other things he'd gotten from that, of course but that all seemed trivial. How could Mag possibly be dead? 

He wants to say that things got easier after that, but not really. Buddy and Vespa decide that it's best that he go back into the foster system until he's an adult, and go somewhere other than New Kinshasa while they try to clean up Mag's mess.

He barely even got to meet them, and they'd dumped him off on somebody else already.

Safe to say he didn't like either of them much, the first couple of months after that. He didn't like anybody much but there was a special sort of contempt in his heart for his 'Aunts'.

Not to say that they didn't try to make things right. They sent him letters (well, Buddy did, mostly) and told him when they moved from New Kinshasa to some rural town out east called Pelican Town, of all things. right

Peter just kept being angry, for a while before he got tired of being angry and miserable all the time. 

  
So he mailed them back. He started writing then, too. Just a little at a time.

Romance, because was easy. It mostly followed guidelines, and he could make people happy in the end. Life wasn't like that, so if you wanted an escape, why let it be miserable?

Peter has his arm around Juno as he talks, and though Juno started out tense and trying to squeeze himself into as small a spot on the couch as possible, he's gotten closer and less high-strung, and they're comfortably touching at the knee, and Juno's head keeps lolling to one side like he wants to put his head on Peter's shoulder but won't let himself.

"So you write Hallmark movies," Juno says.

He isn't exactly wrong, so Peter just shrugs. "They're fun to read, fun to write. Besides, they tend to be more...diverse than most hallmark movies."

"You shouldn't have told me that, because now I have to read them." He snorts when he says this, and Peter's heart leaps into his throat, and he barely remember to make a joke.

"Oh, I wish you wouldn't. You'll be dissatisfied with _me_ once you read about undercover agent Rex Glass and criminal extraordinaire Duke Rose, et cetera."

Juno laughs again and Peter grins. "You named yourself after your romance novel heroes? What a nerd."

Peter throws his free arm over his forehead and sighs dramatically. "No, you've found out my horrible secret, whatever will I do now? I'll have to move to Europe and change my name, or go and be a hermit somewhere in the mountains-"

Juno grabs his wrist and pulls it towards him, moving close enough for Peter to feel his breath warm on his cheek. "Please, you aren't going anywhere."

"Oh? How are you going to stop me then, Juno?"

The air around them is electric and thick for a few seconds before Juno drops his wrist. "I'll murder you, next question. Finish your story."

He laughs, nearly sobbing because it's all just _so much_. _Juno_ is just so much and he adores him.

"There isn't all that much else to tell. I never really settled down in one place. Mag was...Even in his legitimate business endeavors, a very well-known man. And I was suddenly very, very wealthy the moment I turned eighteen. For a while I wanted to be famous, you know? I went to all sorts of parties and tried to be like them. It all felt so fake, Juno. So I kept moving, and writing," he sighs. "I should've used a pen name.

"Anyways, I only moved to Pelican Town about a year ago, at Buddy's insistance. And well, the rest is history, so they say."

"Wow, quite the story."

"Thank you for listening to all of it. Like you I just didn't want you to find out from someone else and feel that I wasn't being truthful. Keeping my identity hidden is really for the best."

Juno gives him a look. "Oh, and I'd bet that the being an enigma thing is just a nice side effect. "

Peter can't help but laugh because he's been figured out just so well. "It is!"

Then they're both just quiet for a little bit, and Peter occupies himself by trying to tell what Juno's looking at now, and what he's thinking. "I'm glad you came and talked to me. I was so certain you didn't want anything to do with me after....Well, no sense in bringing it back up."

He sours, just for a split second, and he hadn't meant to make things awkward but Juno recovers quite gracefully. "I tried to convince myself that it was just best if I pushed everyone away, but you kept just sort of popping up where I couldn't ignore how much I wanted to be around you. I'm still sort of nervous, relationships haven't ever exactly worked out for me in the past."

"I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you, Juno. Not intentionally. But I understand how hesitant you are. And I've never been in anything serious like this, so maybe-As eager as I am-we ought to take it slowly?"

He nods. "I think that's probably a good idea. Hey, are you going to be at that," He takes a moment to flail his arms around in a gesture that Peter's sure means _something_ , but what exactly is lost to him. "Jellyfish thing tomorrow?"

It takes him a moment to decipher that. "The dance of the moonlight jellies? No, I'm going to be out of town for the rest of the week, actually. My publisher has me going to do book-signings in a few different places around the valley." Juno sucks in his cheeks and just nods. Peter suddenly remembers something. "It seems silly, but did those tomatoes we planted sprout?"

Juno smiles like he's proud of himself and holds up his hands a to demonstrate about a four inch height. "They're this tall now, actually."

"Oh my, you'll have to let me come see them when I get back. And perhaps we can go and get lunch or something?"

"I'd really like that, Peter." Juno Steel smiles like he knows a secret, and Peter supposes that he does. 


	15. Grapefruit Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be an epilogue!

"Okay, so how come you didn't go with Alessandra? I mean, she's just over there, and it's pretty obvious with how much you two like each other."

That was a less-than-vague allusion to the fact that Rita has to be the most sappy person that Juno's ever seen and all he hears about lately (or more than he heard about it before, at least) is about how strong Alessandra is, or how pretty she is, or how much she reminds Rita of this one character in this one stream who's name was Marie and ended up with the main character's ex-girlfriend and gosh, did that make her Deidre? Because she was so smart and musical and Rita wasn't any of those things, really and Alessandra probably wasn't hiding the fact that she had a detective husband who was in turn cheating on her but who really knew, right? Maybe her detective husband partner would go to the newspapers-

You get the point.

That joke probably went on longer than he should have let it, but that's really just Rita.

She shrugs and avoids his gaze. "I dunno. I wanted to spend time with you."

"Is this about P-Uhh Glass?"

That breaks her quick.

"Yes! Yes, can I _pleeeeeease_ tell you what I think now? I've been waiting so long and I might've followed you to his cabin the other day and left right after and definitely didn't see you two talking through the side window."

That was going on the top ten weirdest things she'd ever done. Not as number one, but definitely top ten. And he hates to tell her he probably already knows what she's going to say and ruin her excitement. "Uhh, what is it?" 

"Okay so there's this series of romance novels and they're super cute and kitschy if you know what I mean. My favorite is about AG's Investigator Perseus Shah and his rival-slash-eventual passionately lover, a really by the books police detective and they start out hatin' each other but then this killer-"

He's been stating out into the pitch black ocean for most of her tangent before realizing that wasn't the point of this discussion. "Rita?" 

"Huh?"

"What's the point of this discussion?"

"Oh yeah, so one of the characters names in one of the books is Duke Rose. And also there's Rex Glass. And so I looked up a picture of the author, and he looks awfully similar to our guy. By similar I mean like, exactly the same."

He tried on a non-commital, "Oh." Which seems to do the trick.

At least, the way she throws her hands up says so. "I know, right? I wanted to say something but then you got all broody after that date, but I knew you'd come around!"

For all that he could say about Rita, he wouldn't have guessed that she'd have guessed this turn of events. He didn't even guess this turn of events. Yikes.

The beach collectively falls quiet as the water out a ways lights up with the first signs of the Moonlight Jellies. Rita gasps softly, watching the neon colors come closer and closer. She reaches out for Juno's hand as their shapes become more apparent in the water. They _are_ pretty, Juno will give them that.

They pass, slowly, and the soft, reverent _oohs_ and _ahhs_ of the people of Pelican Town fade away with them. Rita looks over at him, the moonlight highlighting her face enough for him to see the strangely serious look she has. 

"I'm glad we're here, Mister Steel. It hasn't been easy, but jus' you and me sharin' that pretty house? And the chickens? And Alessandra and ooh! Peter now, too? It's everything I ever could've wanted. And I'm glad you get it, too. I know you don' always feel like you deserve it but...you do. You're a good person, Juno."

He's stunned into silence for a solid minute. "I...Wow. Uh. I'm glad too. And you're the best friend I have, and honestly, you're the one who said we should keep it, and you're the one keeping me here so." He laughs, briefly. "I'm not very good at this, but thanks, Rita. You mean...everything to me." 

She smiles at him, bright like the sun that isn't out, and they walk back, arms linked and swinging back and forth. 

He takes a good look at the house, standing back a ways, by the coop.

It was a disaster before. The roof sagged, the porch creaked, there were two broken windows downstairs, and that wasn't even starting on the inside. 

Even in the dark, now it looks like...home. His home. His and Rita's. It has a fresh coat of cream-colored paint, and his newest impulse purchase of two sets of delicate lace curtains in the front windows, one in the livingroom, and one upstairs, in his room. 

"It's gonna be beautiful," Rita had said, that first evening when they were both waist high in weeds and looking at the most decrepit house Juno had ever laid eyes on. Months later he's still not really sure about that.

Beautiful...beautiful is one thing. It's opulent and new and like that house he'd grown up in, with the marble tile and the golden trim. Impersonal. 

This house is old, and plain, and still sort of falling apart, but it's home.


	16. Buttercup Melody (Epilogue)

He's got a basket full of eggs, radishes, and canned goods, along with a quiche (mainly eggs, they have so many goddamn eggs) balanced on one arm, as he's using the other to knock on the door of a tall, blue house in the middle of town. 

A little girl answers, short for her age and much too serious looking. "Hi, Annie." Juno says. "Is your sister home?"

She nods once. "I'll go get her, just a second." 

A minute later, Sasha Wire takes Annie's place in the doorway and briefly nods. "Mister Steel. To what do I owe the favor?"

He holds out his meager offerings, and shrugs. "You're the reason I've got enough to live on every month, so call it a thank you."

A perfectly arched eyebrow shoots up. "Is this an incredibly elaborate 'Fuck You'?" Mayor Sasha Wire, woman after his own heart asks.

He just shrugs again. "Partly, yeah. You still going to take it?"

"Do I look stupid, Juno? I can smell that quiche from here. Do you want to come in?"

He waves her off. "Thanks, but Buddy has me on a deadline and I have to run back home to grab the eggs and stuff I'm selling her, so..." 

She doesn't seem surprised. "Another time, then."

They both know it won't happen, that's fine. But he's one of her people, whether either of them like it or not.

Peter and Mick haul boxes upstairs, one at a time. Mick's become more or less a permanent fixture at the house since they'd started the barn. Juno thinks he's using them for their sheep, Rilla. Fair. Rilla's the sweetest animal he's ever seen, and yes, that includes his chickens.

The radio is on in the kitchen, and Rita and Alessandra sweep back and forth together across the floor less than gracefully to the old song that's playing. The Flower Dance had just ended, but apparently that wasn't enough for them, and he just hopes they don't break anything.

Juno himself is reading a novel about a private detective and an interstellar thief upstairs in his bed, only stopping to offer Mick and Peter words of encouragement.

It wasn't _quite_ like reality, but Juno supposes he can see where the author got the inspiration from, even if he isn't sure he'd be so awful as to leave Peter in the night, every story has to have a conflict. 

Apparently it had gotten very good reviews on goodreads. He only knew because Peter liked to read them after the book first came out.

"There!" Mick sets one more box down on the floor and brushes off his hands. "That's all of it, uh..."

"Violet, remember?"

That's probably a different name than he'd been given the first time but Mick nods enthusiastically anyways. "Right, that was it!"

Juno fights back a laugh. "Hey Mercury, could we have a second?"

He suddenly looks very, very awkward, which is the hazard of spending time as the fifth wheel, so to speak. "Sure. I'll uh..." he takes a step back, and narrowly misses falling down the stairs. "I'll go see if the other two need anything. See you later, Jay!"

Peter laughs when he's long gone. "The look on his face...I think I'm going to have to remember that one. Do you need help with your dress, dear?" 

"I'll get it later, it's comfy-you don't want to put your stuff away before we do anything else?"

He smiles, and with the light from the window filtering through the curtain behind him makes him look like an angel. His unnaturally yellow eyes only add to the illusion. "Darling Juno, light of my life, we have been going steady-"

"Are we in the forties, now?"

"Shh. We have been going steady for nearly a year now, and I cannot possibly wait a second longer." He reaches into his sweater pocket, and even though Juno knows exactly what's coming out of that pocket, he hasn't actually seen it yet. 

And he's not sure why it's so important, but he can feel that it _is_ , and that's why he's not worried about doing it 'properly', at least not right now. 

What Peter pulls out of his pocket is an impossibly blue and iridescent shell on a string, and presses it gently in Juno's hands before laughing nervously. "I've never done this."

"...You'll do better than Diamond did."

"That doesn't make me feel much better, Juno. But as I mentioned, you've been my only real relationship up until this point, and my stay in Stardew Valley has been longer than I've managed to stay anywhere else except for...well except for with Mag, I suppose. But I wouldn't rather be anywhere else, except for here, in this crazy farming, homemaking, water journey with you so...Let's make it official?"

He cradles the shell in his hands for a minute, and then Juno looks up at him. _The spirits are looking out for him today_ , like Rita's internet friend Frannie would probably say. "Are you asking me to marry you, Peter Nureyev?"

"You know I am, Juno Steel."

"Of course I will! Ah, fuck, wait. "

Peter looks very, very alarmed. "What, what is it?"

He looks him very seriously in the eyes and says, "Did you ask Rita first? She has a thing about protecting my honor or something."

His alarm very quickly turns to relief and amusement. "No, but let's go tell her together, shall we?" 

Juno finally opens the two envelopes Jet had not so subtly left on his windowsill. 

The first one makes him laugh. 

_Dear Juno,_

_If you're reading this, you must be in a dire need of a change._

_I was, when I bought the place. You're probably old enough by now to realize that your mother and I didn't always get along._

_We wanted vastly different things. She wanted luxury, and I wanted simplicty. That was why I bought this place, because I thought I could change her mind, by fixing this place up and showing her how much better of a place it would be to bring up you kids._

_Your mother is a very stubborn woman, Juno._ _Don't ever let anyone call Sarah Steel a pushover. You, either._

_I couldn't ever manage to make the world a better place Juno. Maybe you can make Stardew Valley a better place, at least._

_R. O'Flaherty_

Like he'd wanted him to have this place, like he wasn't just sprouting off some crazy idealistic bullshit for once his life. Like it was fate. That's why Juno laughs.

And Juno can't see what O'Flaherty saw in him, all this "Making the world a better place". But Stardew Valley-

He's such a sap. Maybe Stardew Valley made him a better person, somehow, in its own uncomfortable way, putting people in his path, and dredging up an uncomfortable past.

The second is...

Well, it's just weird. There's an old photo of the town hall, in the envelope and a short note. 

_Juno,_

_Juminos becoming a problem in town, they're usually not this bold. Come see me when you open this, and we'll see what we can do._

_Jet_

Well, why the hell not? He's already got the plants watered and the chickens fed. Maybe the offer still stands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well dang! It's been a wild ride getting here, folks and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! Thank you for all your kind words in the comments since the beginning, I couldn't have made it here without all the support! 
> 
> If you liked this and want to see something else from me, you can go to goodmorningaperture.tumblr.com and look at my fandom list and request just about anything!
> 
> That's all from me for now ;)


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